B.S. GOSHU, N.C. ASHEBIR
Department of Physics, Dire Dawa University, Ethiopia
The current study aims to assess the radioactive health risks and their levels. Fresh tea leaves were plucked from different locations in the Gumero tea farmland in Ilubabour zone, Ethiopia. High-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy was used to measure the activity concentrations of artificial and natural radionuclides (e.g., 40K, 232Th, and 238U) in the samples. Radiological indicators such as committed dose rate (DR) and excess lifetime cancer risk, LCR (i.e., the cancer death risk due to lifetime exposure to carcinogens, ignoring the contribution of natural background risk) were evaluated to ascertain the radioactive risk to humans in the tea samples. DR and LCR, two radiological markers, were assessed to determine the radioactive risk to humans in the tea samples. The finding shows that the radiological hazards assessment of 238U and 232Th revealed that the Gumero tea leaves have natural radioactivity levels within the internationally recommended limit, while that of 40K was higher than the limit. Comparing the current study with other studies, it was found that the yearly effective doses and nuclide radioactivity concentrations in tea leaves were similar.
Key words: Risk, lifetime, cancer, hazard, dose, tea
Corresponding author’s e-mail: belaysitotaw@gmail.com