Radiometric Survey of Aluu Landfill, In Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

A key component of the Millennium Development Goals is a call to halve by the year 2015 the proportion of persons without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation in developing nations. This paper reports a study of the terrestrial radioactivity around Aluu landfill in Obiakpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.  Measurements were carried out in the North, South, East and West directions of the Aluu landfill. An in- situ measurement was done using two well calibrated nuclear radiation meters (Radalert-100 and Digilert-50) and a geographical positioning system (GPS). Ten readings were taken in each direction of the landfill at intervals of ten (10) meters away from the landfill making a total of forty (40) sampling points. The mean site radiation levels all the four cardinal points ranges from 0.0123  0.0026 mR/hr (1.034mSv/y) to 0.0151± 0.0012mR/h (1.270mSv/y).  The equivalent dose has an average value range of 1.001mSv/y to 1.270mSv/y which is slightly above the recommended dose limit of 1.0mSv/y for the general public. Comparison of the measured radiation level of site locations with the normal background levels show 21 locations representing 53% of the sampled area exceed the normal background level of 0.013mR/h. This study indicates that there is no immediate radiological health hazard for the general public, however there may be long-term health challenges.

Keywords: Assessment, Dose equivalent, Landfill, Millennium, Radalert, Digilert.