Assessment of health risks related to natural radioactivity near the Ife iron and steel industry in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

The environmental risks connected to the operations of Ife Iron and Steel Nigeria Limited, Ile-Ife, located in Osun State, are examined in this paper. According to reports, the soot and other particles the company's operations release are bad for the locals' health and threaten their sources of income. In order to calculate the absorbed dose, external hazard index, and annual effective dose for the estimation of the potential biological risk/damage to the community, the radionuclides present in soil taken from the area around the industry have been identified and their activity concentrations measured. Gamma ray spectrometry with a NaI detector was used to identify the radionuclides and determine the activity content in soil samples taken from the Fashina community. The absorbed dose rates due to the terrestrial gamma rays at 1.0m above the ground in the study area are in the range of 28.85 nGy/h to 37.05 nGy/h with an average of 33.30 nGy/h which is lower than the world average value of 59 nGy/h. The external hazard index ranges from 0.167 to 0.220 with an average of 0.194 which is less than 1.0. The outdoor annual effective doses are in the range of 0.035 mSv/y to 0.045 mSv/y with an average value of 0.041 mSv/y which is lower compared with the world average value of 0.07 mSv/y. The results show that the annual effective dose from natural radioactivity around the industry has an average value lower than the natural world recommended value.