Research Article
Taiwo A. O., Adeyemo D. J., Ib
Abstract
Man is continuously being exposed to radiation due to its presence everywhere on earth. This study is aimed at determining the radium equivalent activity from the soil samples collected from different locations around a superphosphate fertilizer factory in Nigeria. An efficiency and Energy calibrated high purity germanium detector was used to carry out the study while gamma vision software was used for the spectrum analysis. The Activity Concentrations of the soil samples collected from the different locations in the factory ranges from 48.99±7.47 to 520.37±20.46 BqKg-1 for 234U, 55.32±7.59 to 215.18±8.70 BqKg-1 for 232Th, and 101.32±13.34 to 476.04±28.07 BqKg-1 for 40K respectively. The radium equivalent activity was found to be within the range of 215.59 to 607.29 with most of the soil samples having values less than the world allowed value for radium equivalent activity which is 370 Bq/Kg. Hence radiologically the operation of the factory does not appear to pose immediate threat to the factory workers.