Environmental impact assessment of exposure level in farm house structure within uranium mineralized zone of Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

In this work, the radiation burden due to radio-element exposure of some houses in close proximity to the uranium-ore pits in Taraba State were examined. A fieldwork observation of the state of background count(exposure) were made via GQ-GMC-500+ model radiation meter. The Geiger tube produce an electrical signal each time radiation energy is imputed on the tube and ionize. Each flow is detected electronically and recorded as a count/sec in a selected mode (μSv/h) of the manual. The detector was fixed at 1m above ground level (Abdominal level) with the window of the equipment pointing towards the four-cardinal region (North, South, East, and West) and four readings were observed and the average value recorded. The parameter quantified are absorbed dose level (ADR), outdoor yearly effective dose level and the excess cancer lifetime risk calculation method. The mean amount of irradiation observed from the houses and its environment spanned between 0.33 to 0.11μSv/h, likewise the computed ADR varies between 0.5803 to 0.193mSv/yr, while the computed outdoor AEDR is 4.15 x10-4 to 1.36 x10-4 mSv/yr. The evaluated lifetime cancer burden due to environmental level of exposure within the buildings and its surroundings spanned from 1.45 x 10^-3 to 9.78 x 10^-4. The outcomes reveal
that the houses and their immediate locality within the selected abandoned mining pit of Taraba State could not have any injurious effects as the yearly effective dose level is quite lower than the public global dose benchmark of 1mSv/yr. The calculation method of lifetime cancer risk from the buildings closed to the uranium ore pits was below the 0.3mSv/yr which might not pose any significant radiation threats to the inhabitants.