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Natural radioactivity and the associated radiation hazards in archeological pottery and pottery-making clay samples collected from Senjikothamangalam of Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, India

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Abstract

In this work, pottery and pottery-making clay samples have been collected from the archeological site of Senjikothamangalam of Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu for radioactivity studies to assess the radiation hazards for human beings who are handling these materials and living in this area. For pottery samples, the observed mean activity concentration is 16, 35, and 162 Bq kg−1 for 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K respectively. Similarly, 24, 37, and 240 Bq kg−1 for 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K respectively, for pottery-making clay samples. The observed mean excess lifetime cancer risk for pottery is 0.152 × 10−3 mSv y−1 and pottery-making clay is 0.19 × 10−3 mSv y−1.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Veeraragavan, a Retired school teacher at a Government primary school, in Arasur, Villupuram district for helping us to collect samples from the archaeological site of Senjikothamangalam in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu.

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  1. Department of Physics, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering (Autonomous), Chennai, 603 110, India

    A. Tamilarasi, S. Karthikayini, V. Sathish & A. Chandrasekaran

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Tamilarasi, A., Karthikayini, S., Sathish, V. et al. Natural radioactivity and the associated radiation hazards in archeological pottery and pottery-making clay samples collected from Senjikothamangalam of Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 2257–2268 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08822-7

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