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Occupational and public risk assessment of NORMs in soil of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria after six decades of hydrocarbon exploitation

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Abstract

The radiological risks associated with exposure from radioactivity in soil from oil and gas producing coastal areas of Nigeria have been assayed after sixty years of exploration activities in the area. This is to ascertain the radiological impact on the oil field workers and residents of host communities. Gamma spectrometric technique was used to determine the radiometric in the soil samples collected using a highly efficient a Canberra High Purity Germanium Dedector (HPGe) detector. The obtained mean activity concentrations of the three natural radionuclides of 40 K, 238U, and 232Th are 1586.82 ± 17.97, 27.26 ± 8.38, and 37.67 ± 9.55 Bqkg−1 respectively. The estimated mean radium equivalent for the host communities and the control sample values are 203.31 ± 23.56 Bqkg−1 and 20.17 ± 2.54 Bqkg−1 respectively. The radiation risk estimates from three exposure routes, external, inhalation, and ingestion, were calculated using the activities of the radionuclides detected in the soil samples. The measured concentrations are higher than the corresponding global average values. The estimated total effective dose received by the residents and oil field workers through the three exposure routes ranged from 0.21 to 14.8 mSvy−1 with a mean value of 4.77 mSvy−1. The values of each of the total effective dose estimated in the different communities exceeded the 1.0 mSvy−1 permissible limit for the general public. The estimate dose equivalent obtained for external exposure is 4.27 μSvy−1 which represents 89.0% of the permissible limit for the general public. These results obtained show that both residents and oil field workers are significantly exposed to radiation from the soil which may be of radiological health concern.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Nigeria

    Ezekiel O. Agbalagba

  2. Department of Physics, Dennis Osadebey University, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria

    Esi Oghenevovwero Emmanuel

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  1. Ezekiel O. Agbalagba
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Correspondence to Ezekiel O. Agbalagba.

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The study examined the radiological impact of oil and gas exploration activities on the host community residents and the oil field workers in the study area after intense oil and gas exploration activities for sixty years in the area, using soil as the test case. The results of the radioactivity analyses on the soil samples examined show that the residents and the field workers in these oil and gas fields environment are significantly and radiologically impacted by the oil and gas activities in the area.

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Agbalagba, E.O., Oghenevovwero Emmanuel, E. Occupational and public risk assessment of NORMs in soil of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria after six decades of hydrocarbon exploitation. Arab J Geosci 16, 328 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-11151-w

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