The Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 12 No 1 (2008): 150 – 159

 

 

ASSESSMENT OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY IN WATER AND SEDIMENT FROM AMANG (TIN TAILING) PROCESSING PONDS

 

Mohsen Nasirian, Ismail Bahari, and Pauzi Abdullah

 

Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,

43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

 

Abstract

Gamma spectroscopy was performed to determine the concentrations of uranium-238 and thorium-232 concentrations in the environment as a consequence of amang processing. In this study 33 water samples and 26 sediment samples were collected from 7 amang processing areas. The concentrations of uranium-238 and thorium-232 were determined by  direct counting using a hyper pure germanium (HPGe) detector inter phased with a multi channel analyzer (MCA) . Results showed that the maximum mass and activity concentrations of uranium in water samples were 6.64 ppm and 78.53 Bql^-1  respectively, while in sediment samples were 69.75 mgkg^-1   and 860.57 Bqkg^-1  respectively.   The maximum mass and activity concentrations of thorium in water samples were 1.71 ppm and 6.90 Bql^-1, while in sediment samples were 157.73 mgkg^-1   and 637.61 Bqkg^-1 respectively.  Concentrations  of  uranium-238  and  thorium-232  in  sediment  samples  were  higher  than  concentrations  of uranium-238 and thorium-232 in water samples, and this may be attributed to insolubility of these radionuclides in water. The concentrations of both radionuclides were higher in sediments collected from ponds involved in the close water recycle system compared to those ponds involved in the open water system. Results also showed that the concentrations of these radionuclides were higher than background indicating that amang processing activity  has enhanced the natural radionuclides contents in water and sediment.

 

Keywords: Amang processing, natural radionuclides, uranium-238, Thorium-232, gamma spectrometry

 

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