Excess lifetime Cancer risk and Radiation Pollution hazard indices in rocks and soil of some selected mining sites in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Radiation exposures from mining and mineral processing

industries can lead to high incidence of disease conditions like

nausea, lung cancer, sterility, fatigue, and diarrhoea among mine

workers. The concentration of primodial radionuclides (238U,

232Th and 40K) in some selected mining sites in Nasarawa State,

Nigeria, was examined in this study. Soil and rock samples from

eight different mining sites were collected and analyzed for

radionuclides activity concentration by gamma ray

spectrometery using a scintillator detector NaI (Tl), while soil

physical and chemical parameters were analyzed using standard

methods. Data obtained was analyzed through descriptive

statistics using SPSS statistical package. The results obtained for

the annual gonadal dose equivalent, absorbed dose rate, outdoor

annual effective dose equivalent, indoor annual effective dose

equivalent and excess lifetime cancer risk were found to be

above the globally permissible limits, for both rock and soil

samples.

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