Affiliations 

  • 1 Center for Radiation Sciences, School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, Sunway University, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. Electronic address: mu_khandaker@yahoo.com
  • 2 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia; Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 3 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
  • 4 Center for Radiation Sciences, School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, Sunway University, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK
  • 5 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria
Mar Pollut Bull, 2018 Feb;127:654-663.
PMID: 29475708 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.055

Abstract

Study is made of the radioactivity in the beach sands of Langkawi island, a well-known tourist destination. Investigation is made of the relative presence of the naturally occurring radionuclide 40K and the natural-series indicator radionuclides 226Ra and 232Th, the gamma radiation exposure also being estimated. Sample quantities of black and white sand were collected for gamma ray spectrometry, yielding activity concentration in black sands of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K from 451±9 to 2411±65Bqkg-1 (mean of 1478Bqkg-1); 232±4 to 1272±35Bqkg-1 (mean of 718Bqkg-1) and 61±6 to 136±7Bqkg-1 (mean of 103Bqkg-1) respectively. Conversely, in white sands the respective values for 226Ra and 232Th were appreciably lower, at 8.3±0.5 to 13.7±1.4Bqkg-1 (mean of 9.8Bqkg-1) and 4.5±0.7 to 9.4±1.0Bqkg-1 (mean of 5.9Bqkg-1); 40K activities differed insubstantially from that in black sands, at 85±4 to 133±7Bqkg-1 with a mean of 102Bqkg-1. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra and 232Th in black sands are comparable with that of high background areas elsewhere in the world. The heavy minerals content gives rise to elevated 226Ra and 232Th activity concentrations in all of black sand samples. Evaluation of the various radiological risk parameters points to values which in some cases could be in excess of recommendations providing for safe living and working. Statistical analysis examines correlations between the origins of the radionuclides, also identifying and classifying the radiological parameters. Present results may help to form an interest in rare-earth resources for the electronics industry, power generation and the viability of nuclear fuels cycle resources.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.