Radiological Health Risk from Gamma Radiation of Coastal Communities in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

In-situ measurement of background ionization radiation was carried out in coastal communities of Okrika Local Government Area. This field work was achieved with the use of Digilert 200 to record the background ionization radiation and global positioning system in taking the coordinates of the sampled Locations. The exposure rate ranged from 0.010  to 0.017 with a mean value of 0.0122+ 0.03, which is quite lower than the acceptable limit of 0.0133 . The absorbed dose varied from 85.70 nGy/h to 140.9 nGy/h with a mean value of 108.3+23.34 nGy/h. The mean value was a little higher than the world average of 89.0 nGy/h. The annual effective dose ranged from 0.13 mSv/y to 0.23 mSv/y with an overall mean of 0.1611+0.04 mSv/y. The overall mean value obtained was found to be lesser that the acceptable limit of 1.0 ms/y . The excess life cancer risk ranged from 0.47 x  to 0.79 x   with overall mean of 0.57+ 0.12 which is higher than the world average of 0.29 x . The study area is free from radiological hazards, even though there is no visible adverse effect on the populace, it is strongly recommended that companies and oil activities within the study area should be properly monitored to ensure that the populace and environment are free from radiological hazards, by ensuring that all forms of radiation exposure to both man and the environment should be kept as low as reasonably achievable.