Radiological Hazard Assessment of High-Level Natural Radionuclides in Surface Sediments Along Red River, Vietnam

Abstract

The Red River is one of the largest rivers that plays an important role in the economic development of North Vietnam. There are many radionuclides bearing rare earth, uranium ore mines, mining industrial zones and magma intrusive formations along this river. The contamination and accumulation of radionuclides could exist at high concentration in surface sediments of this river. Thus, the present investigation aims to study the activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th (²²⁸Ra), ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs in Red River surface sediments. Thirty sediment samples were collected, and their activity concentration was calculated using high-purity germanium gamma-ray detector. The observed results ranged from 51.0 ± 2.1 to 73.6 ± 3.7 for ²²⁶Ra, 71.4 ± 3.6 to 103 ± 5.2 for ²³²Th, 507 ± 24.0 to 846 ± 42.3 for ⁴⁰K, and ND (not detected) to 1.33 ± 0.06 Bq/kg for ¹³⁷Cs, respectively. In general, the natural radionuclides concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th (²²⁸Ra), and ⁴⁰K is higher than the average world average values. This indicated that the natural radionuclides could contribute from similar and principal sources surrounding the upstream of Lao Cai where distributed uranium ore mines, radionuclide bearing rare earth mines, mining industrial zones and intrusive formations. Regarding the radiological hazard assessment, results of the indices computed such as absorbed gamma dose rate (D), the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR), and the annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) were nearly two times higher than world average values.