Radiological characterization of phosphogypsum produced in Serbia

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd The use of phosphogypsum in buildings requires the radiological characterization, as well as an assessment of radiological risk for humans. In this paper, the level of radioactivity of phosphogypsum produced in Serbia was measured by gamma spectrometry and average activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K for the 8 phosphogypsum samples was obtained to be 600 ± 28 Bq kg−1, 3.2 ± 0.3 Bq kg−1, and 47 ± 16 Bq kg−1, respectively. Furthermore, the distribution of radionuclides in phosphogypsum was monitored separately in fractions 2–0.063 mm. The radon emanation coefficient for natural gypsum and phosphogypsum was determined using the RAD7 device and the obtained values were 6.73 ± 0.18% and 3.92 ± 0.04%, respectively. Hazard indices, annual effective doses, surface exhalation rate and indoor radon concentration for all samples were estimated. The estimated indoor radon concentrations for most of the samples were below the lower limit of 100 Bq m−3 recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2009).