Radiological safety assessment and occurrence of heavy metals in soil from designated waste dumpsites used for building and composting in Southwestern Nigeria

الملخص EN

Gamma spectroscopic assays of radionuclide contents and heavy metal in soil samples from waste dump sites in selected cities in southwestern Nigeria were carried out.

The activity concentration level due to 40K, 226Ra, 228Th, Cs, 109Cd, 210Pb, 214Bi, and 208Tl in the samples were determined using coaxial-type Ge detector.

The maximum concentrations of 40K, 226Ra, 228Th, and 137Cs are 357 ± 12, 68 ± 7, 132و ± 10, and 0.96 Bqkg-1 at Ado, Abeokuta, Lagos and Ibadan; while the minimum concentrations are 180 ± 6, 40 ± 5, 22 ± 2, and 0.19 Bqkg-1 at Akure, Ado, Osogbo, and Abeokuta, respectively.

The maximum concentrations of heavy metals 208Ti, 210Pb, 214Bi, and 109Cd are 35 ± 1, 46 ± 5, 401 ± 7, and 49 ± 1 Bqkg-1 at Lagos, Ibadan, and Ado, while the minimum concentrations are 5 ± 0.24, 20 ± 3, 17 ± 2 and 1 ± 40 Bqkg-1 at Ado and Ibadan, respectively.

The highest and the lowest average outdoor effective dose rates were recorded at Lagos and Ibadan.