Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Indoor and Built Environment
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Awodugba, A.O.
Right arrow Articles by Ishola, G.A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Gamma Ray Activity in Raw Materials and the End Product from the West African Portland Cement PLC, Ewekoro, South Western Nigeria

A.O. Awodugba

Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria, awodugba{at}justice.com

J.S.A. Adelabu

University of Abuja, Nigeria

M.K. Awodele

Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

G.A. Ishola

Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Assessment of gamma ray activity in raw materials and the end product in `Elephant cement' from the West African Portland Cement PLC is carried out. Raw materials are collected from the company and are analyzed using gamma-ray spectrometry.

The concentrations of 40K, 238U, and 232Th are highest in limestone and least in red alumina. For example, limestone has a 40K concentration of 904.42 ± 39 Bq · kg-1 while red alumina has 313.84 ± 11 Bq · kg-1. The concentration of 238U in limestone is 296.86 ± 12 Bq · kg-1 as compared to 139.44 ± 6 Bq · kg-1 in red alumina. 232Th concentration in limestone is 171.14 ± 12 Bq · kg-1 while in red alumina it is 45.65 ± 2 Bq · kg-1 .

The mean activities measured for 40K, 238U, and 232Th are 667.69 ± 24, 323.48 ± 10, and 95.91 ± 4, respectively, while its corresponding mean absorbed dose rate in air at 1 m above the ground was calculated to be 264.96 nGy · h-1 or 2.321 mSv · y-1. The finished product (cement) has a mean absorbed dose rate of 282 nGy · h-1 and an effective dose equivalent of 2.471mSv · y-1. The calculated absorbed doses in nGy · h-1 and mSv · y-1 show that Elephant cement has higher activities of the isotopes than the permissible level suggested by ICRP (80 nGy · h-1or 0.7 mSv · y-1).

Key Words: Gamma-ray • Cement • Ewekoro • Nigeria

Indoor and Built Environment, Vol. 16, No. 6, 569-572 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1420326X07083572
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?