IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bjc/journl/v7y2020i7p209-212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Radiological Assessment of the Activity concentrations of 40K, 232Th, 238U and Exposure Levels in the Rosterman Gold Mine of Lurambi Area, Western, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Conrad Khisa Wanyama

    (Department of Science, Technology and Engineering, Kibabii University, P.O BOX1699-50200 Bungoma, Kenya)

  • John Wanjala Makokha

    (Department of Science, Technology and Engineering, Kibabii University, P.O BOX1699-50200 Bungoma, Kenya)

  • Fred Wekesa Masinde

    (Department of Physical Sciences, University of Kabianga, P.O BOX 2030-20200 Kericho, Kenya)

  • Stanley Muthama Matsitsi

    (Department of Physical Sciences, South Eastern Kenya University, and P.O BOX 170-90200 Kitui, Kenya)

Abstract

Lurambi – Rosterman gold mine consist of miners who engage in daily small-scale artisanal gold mining activities. The gold mine wastes may contain naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) which may pose a potential health risk to this population. In this survey, thirty samples were collected from sediments in the tunnels for radioactivity measurements using the NaI(Tl) gamma ray spectrometer. The activity concentrations of 40K, 232Th and 238U were 262 ± 11.48, 114 ± 5.78 and 84 ± 2.64 Bqkg-1, respectively. The mean radium equivalent for all the collected samples was 274 ± 12.90 Bqkg-1 which is less than the recommended limit of 370 Bqkg-1. The mean outdoor and indoor annual effective dose rates were 0.4 ± 0.02 and 0.3 ± 0.01 mSvy-1 respectively. Since the radium equivalent was less than the recommended criterion value, mining of gold at Rosterman poses no radiological hazardous health risk to the miners and the general public.

Suggested Citation

  • Conrad Khisa Wanyama & John Wanjala Makokha & Fred Wekesa Masinde & Stanley Muthama Matsitsi, 2020. "Radiological Assessment of the Activity concentrations of 40K, 232Th, 238U and Exposure Levels in the Rosterman Gold Mine of Lurambi Area, Western, Kenya," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 7(7), pages 209-212, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bjc:journl:v:7:y:2020:i:7:p:209-212
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijrsi/digital-library/volume-7-issue-7/209-212.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/virtual-library/papers/radiological-assessment-of-the-activity-concentrations-of-40k-232th-238u-and-exposure-levels-in-the-rosterman-gold-mine-of-lurambi-area-western-kenya/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bjc:journl:v:7:y:2020:i:7:p:209-212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Renu Malsaria (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijrsi/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.