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Indoor External Radiation Risk in Densely Populated Regions of Southern Nigeria

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Abstract

It is known that certain types of building materials contain significant concentrations of natural radionuclides; consequently, exposure to indoor background radiation is from the combined radioactivity from the soil as well as building materials; indoor exposures therefore have higher radiation hazard potentials than outdoor exposures in this regard and hence, need to be monitored. In this paper, an evaluation of background ionizing radiation from different buildings in Lagos and Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria was carried out to determine the exposure rate of the general public to indoor ionizing radiation. 630 in situ measurements from the different buildings were taken using a Geiger Muller counter (model GQ-320 Plus). The indoor dose rates (i.e., 50–120 nGy/h) were within the world average values while the Annual Effective Dose for most of the buildings were above the world average AED for indoor gamma exposure from building materials. The mean AED for Lagos and Ibadan due to indoor exposures were 0.37 and 0.39 mSv/y with Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk of 0.99E−3 and 1.05E−3, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology Akure, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

    Oluwatobi O. Ife-Adediran

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Iyobosa B. Uwadiae

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  1. Oluwatobi O. Ife-Adediran
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  2. Iyobosa B. Uwadiae
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Correspondence to Oluwatobi O. Ife-Adediran.

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Ife-Adediran, O.O., Uwadiae, I.B. Indoor External Radiation Risk in Densely Populated Regions of Southern Nigeria. Earth Syst Environ 2, 95–102 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-018-0039-9

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