Title

Radiological characterisation of synthetic rutile using HPGe gamma spectrometry.

Authors

Chinnaesakki, S.; Bara, S. V.; Sartandel, S. J.; Tripathi, R. M.; Puranik, V. D.

Abstract

This paper discusses the radiological characterisation of synthetic rutile, which is the source material for the production of titanium. The natural radioactivity due to uranium (238U), thorium (232Th) series radionuclides and potassium (40K) was measured in synthetic rutile samples of a production plant in Tamil Nadu, India. n-type high-purity germanium-coupled gamma spectrometry was used for the analysis. It is observed that thorium is more abundant than any other radionuclide, which is due to the monazite present in the primary sand. The activity index (I) evaluated from the radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of the analysed samples is found to be well below the recommended levels. This study shows that the use of synthetic rutile from Tamil Nadu, India, for the manufacture of building materials will not pose any increased radiation exposure to the public beyond the dose criterion of the European Union.

Subjects

TAMIL Nadu (India); INDIA; PHYSIOLOGICAL effects of radioactivity; RADIOLOGY; RUTILE; TITANIUM

Publication

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 2010, Vol 140, Issue 4, p378

ISSN

0144-8420

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1093/rpd/ncq136