Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Biomedical Physics, School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, Sunway University, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Space Science Centre, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Radiat Prot Dosimetry, 2019 Dec 31;185(3):343-350.
PMID: 30806465 DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncz018

Abstract

Batu Dam is of considerable importance to the metropolis of Kuala Lumpur, its existence and the quality assessment of its waters being essential in helping to maintain the lives of a large sector of the Malaysian population. Concerning the level of naturally occurring radioactivity contained within its waters, a well characterised HPGe γ-ray technique has been used in making measurements of the concentrations of primordial radionuclides in samples of surface water from the Dam. Based on the mean individual daily consumption of dam water, estimation has been made of the concomitant radiation dose. Activity concentrations, in units of Bq l-1, have been found to be in the range 2.4-3.2 for 226Ra, 1.1-1.3 for 232Th and 22.7-40.7 for 40K, in line with literature data for surface waters. The total annual ingestion dose for infants (<1 y) and adolescents (12-17 y) are found to be significant and greater than the World Health Organization recommended maximum dose of 0.1 mSv y-1 from the imbibing of drinking water. However, the Dam water does not pose a threat to public health, the Dam water not being used as the sole source of drinking water. Noting that this is the only known study of water from Batu Dam, the reported levels allow for evaluation of future changes in the natural radioactivity profile.

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