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Assessment of annual effective dose from natural radioactivity intake through wheat grain produced in Faisalabad, Pakistan

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Abstract

Wheat is staple food of the people of Pakistan. Phosphate fertilizers, used to increase the yield of wheat, enhance the natural radioactivity in the agricultural fields from where radionuclides are transferred to wheat grain. A study was, therefore, carried out to investigate the uptake of radioactivity by wheat grain and to determine radiation doses received by human beings from the intake of foodstuffs made of wheat grain. Wheat was grown in a highly fertilized agricultural research farm at the Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan. The activity concentration of 40K, 226Ra and 232Th was measured in soil, single superphosphate (SSP) fertilizer, and wheat grain using an HPGe-based gamma-ray spectrometer. Soil to wheat grain transfer factors determined for 40K, 226Ra and 232Th were 0.118 ± 0.021, 0.022 ± 0.004 and 0.036 ± 0.007, respectively, and the annual effective dose received by an adult person from the intake of wheat products was estimated to be 217 μSv.

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Acknowledgments

One of the authors, Sabiha-Javied, acknowledges the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan and appreciates its financial support through “Indigenous Scholarship Scheme for Ph.D. studies in Science and Technology”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan

    M. Tufail &  Sabiha-Javied

  2. Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Jhang Road, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    N. Akhtar & J. Akhter

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  1. M. Tufail
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  2. Sabiha-Javied
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  3. N. Akhtar
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  4. J. Akhter
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Correspondence to M. Tufail.

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Tufail, M., Sabiha-Javied, Akhtar, N. et al. Assessment of annual effective dose from natural radioactivity intake through wheat grain produced in Faisalabad, Pakistan. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 283, 585–590 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-009-0391-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-009-0391-1

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