Evaluation of Natural Radioactive Dose Levels and Associated Annual Effective Dose Rates in Ingested Foodstuffs at Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Measurement of radioactive contamination in some commonly consumed foodstuffs within the six area councils of Abuja, Nigeria was conducted in this study by means of a very sensitive and portable 3M/3-X Geiger Müller counter-based environmental radiation dosimeter. Eight different food samples were randomly selected in each of the sample locations making a total of 48 foodstuffs samples surveyed across the six area councils. The results obtained show that, the range of radiation dose levels in the analyzed samples varied from 0.01590.0001 to 0.34070.0002 μSvy-1 at Bwari; 0.14900.0001 to 0.39020.0002 μSvy-1 at AMAC; 0.00950.0001 to 0.02090.0001 μSvy-1 at Gwagwalada; 0.00570.0001 to 0.01330.0002  μSvy-1 at Kuje; 0.02740.0001 to 0.22710.0002 μSvy-1 at Abaji; Kwali was between 0.01820.0001 and 0.35030.0002 μSvy-1, and their corresponding arithmetic mean are 0.16900.0001 μSvy-1, 0.22560.0001 μSvy-1, 0.01330.0001 μSvy-1, 0.00880.0001 μSvy-1, 0.13600.0001 μSvy-1 and 0.12370.0001 μSvy-1, which gives estimated annual effective dose rates of 0.18850.0003 mSvy-1, 0.25760.0001 mSvy-1, 0.11700.0001 mSvy-1, 0.07710.0001 mSvy-1, 0.15530.0002 mSvy-1, and 0.14120.0001 mSvy-1 for Bwari, AMAC, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abaji and Kwali area councils respectively. This finding reveals that the obtained values were sufficiently less than the maximum recommended global average exposure dose limit for environmental background (2.4 mSvy-1) and general public dose limit (1.0 mSvy-1). The radiation dose levels and dose rates associated with the intake of foodstuffs across the area councils are, therefore, relatively low and may not pose any immediate radiological health hazard to the populace, as deterministic radiation effects occur only in extreme cases.