Activity concentration and annual effective ingestion dose assessment due to natural radionuclides present in cereal samples consumed by inhabitants of India

Abstract

In the present study, activity concentration and annual effective ingestion dose assessment was carried out in cereal samples using gamma spectrometry. In the studied samples the activity of 226Ra, 238U, 232Th, and 40K varied from 10.25±0.94 Bq/kg to 29.13±0.69 Bq/kg, 7.04±0.13 Bq/kg to 20.08±1.32 Bq/kg, 22.20±2.46 Bq/kg to 58.21±1.15 Bq/kg and 1158.4±26.05Bq/kg to 1962.2±18.17 Bq/kg with an average value of 20.06±4.82 Bq/kg, 13.08±1.31 Bq/kg, 41.53±3.77 Bq/kg, and 1639±75.55 Bq/kg respectively. The average value of annual effective ingestion dose from ingested food was 0.62±0.08 mSv/y, 0.07±0.006 mSv/y, 1.20±0.11 mSv/y, and 1.28±0.06 mSv/y from 226Ra, 238U, 232Th, and 40K, respectively. The average value of total ingestion dose and cancer risk was found to be 3.18±0.14 mSv/y and (79.5±3.55) × 10−4 respectively.