Radiation Measurements 50 (2013) 160e165

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Radiation Measurements
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Measurement of natural radioactivity and radon exhalation rate in fly ash samples

from a thermal power plant and estimation of radiation doses
Mamta Gupta a, e, Ajay Kumar Mahur b, c, *, Rati Varshney c, R.G. Sonkawade d, K.D. Verma a,
Rajendra Prasad b, c
a
Department of Physics, S.V. (P.G.) College, Aligarh 202 001, India
b
Vivekananda College of Technology and Management, Aligarh 202 002, India
c
Department of Applied Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202 002, India
d
Department of Applied Physics, BBA University, Lucknow 226 025, India
e
Department of Physics, Northern India Engineering College, Delhi 110 053, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fly ash produced by coal-burning in thermal power station has become a subject of world wide interest
Received 17 December 2011 in recent years because of its diverse uses in construction activities and considerable economic and
Received in revised form environmental importance. Fly ash is used in the production of bricks, sheets, cement and also in land
16 March 2012
filling etc. Indian coals used in thermal power plants are found to have high ash contents, resulting in the
Accepted 21 March 2012
production of large amount of fly ash. Coal contains radionuclides including uranium (the source of inert
gas radon), Th and K. Thus coal combustion results in enhanced concentration of natural radionuclides
Keywords: 226
Ra, 232Th and 40K. Since these radionuclides concentration in fly ash plays an important role in health
Radon exhalation rate
Effective dose
physics it is important to measure radionuclides concentration in fly ash. In the present work enhanced
Gamma ray spectroscopy radioactivity and radon exhalation rate from fly ash samples collected from a thermal power plant of
Fly ash NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), Dadri (U.P.) India, have been measured.
Natural radioactivity A high resolution gamma ray spectroscopic system has been used for the measurement of natural radio-
Radium equivalent activity activity (226Ra, 232Th and 40K). Gamma spectrometric measurements were carried out at Inter-University
Accelerator Centre, New Delhi using a coaxial n-type HPGe detector (EG&G, ORTEC, Oak Ridge, USA).
Activity concentration of 226Ra varies from 81.8
2.2 to 177.3
10.0 Bq kg1 with an average value of
118.6
7.4 Bq kg1 and of 232Th from 111.6
3.2 to 178.5
3.9 Bq kg1 with an average value of
147.0
3.4 Bq kg1. 40K activity was found to be below detection limit in some samples while other
samples have shown potassium activity to vary from 365.9
4.8 to 495.9
6.2 Bq kg1 with an average
value of 352.0
4.5 Bq kg1.
Surface radon exhalation rates (EA) and Mass exhalation rates (EM) in these samples were measured by
“Sealed can technique” using LR-115 type II track detectors. EA is found to vary from 80.1
9.3 to
242.7
16.3 mBq m2 h1 with an average value 155.5
12.8 mBq m2 h1, while EM varies from
3.1
0.4 to 9.3
0.6 mBq kg1 h1 with an average value of 6.0
0.5 mBq kg1 h1. Radium equivalent
activity (Raeq), related to the external gamma dose and internal dose due to radon and its daughters
range from 283.2 to 422.4 Bq kg1 with an average value of 353.9 Bq kg1. The calculated values of
external hazard index (Hex) vary from 0.77 to 1.87 with an average value of 1.03. Most of the samples
show the value of Raeq close to the allowed upper limit of 370 Bq kg1 and Hex close to unity respectively
except in two samples. Annual effective dose varies from 0.15 to 0.23 mSv y1 with an average value
0.19 mSv y1.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Coal is a technologically important material used for power

* Corresponding author. Department of Applied Physics, Aligarh Muslim
University, F-3, Vikram Colony, Ramghat Road, Aligarh 202 002, Uttar Pradesh,
India. Tel.: þ91 9412808481; þ91 8791852882.
E-mail address: ajaymahur345@rediffmail.com (A.K. Mahur).
generation. The increasing demand for electricity generation for
industrial development and human living standards world wide is
met by combustion of fossil fuels. In India major part of electricity is
produced by coal combustion. Fly ash is collected by electrostatic or

1350-4487/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.radmeas.2012.03.015
 M. Gupta et al. / Radiation Measurements 50 (2013) 160e165
mechanical precipitation of dust like particles from the fuel gases of
furnace fired with coal. Fly ash finds applications in building
construction materials, production of aggregates and more recently
for agriculture (Brian et al., 2003) etc. Since coal contains 226Ra,
232
Th and 40K radionuclides like other natural materials, so almost
all naturally existing radionuclides are present in fly ash, including
uranium, a source of a radioactive inert gas radon. These radionu-
clides may pose radiation risks externally due to their gamma-ray
emissions and internally due to radon and its progeny that emit
alpha particles (UNSCEAR, 1998). Radon is an a-radioactive
extremely toxic inert gas which is derived from the radioactive
decay of radium, a decay element in uranium series. It has half life
of 3.8 days which is long enough, allowing a part of it to diffuse
from the building materials to the inside atmosphere of the
dwellings (Durrani and Bull, 1998).
Gamma radiations are emitted from naturally occurring radio
isotopes, like 40K and the radionuclides from the 238U and 232Th
series and their decay products (called terrestrial background
radiation). There should be proper information regarding the
radiation levels and radionuclide distribution in the environment,
as these informations are necessary in understanding human
exposure from natural and man-made sources of radiation and also
necessary in establishing rules and regulations regarding the
radiation protection. Estimates of total radiation dose to the world
population have shown that about 96% is from natural sources
while 4% is from artificial sources (Chougankar et al., 2003). Studies
have shown that radioactivity may cause cancer. In order to assess
the radiological hazards due to natural radioactivity associated
with these radionuclides, calculations of external hazard index,
absorbed gamma dose rate in air and annual effective dose equiv-
alent are estimated and discussed. Comparison of the results from
this study with national and world averages are presented and the
studies are expected to serve as baseline data of natural radioac-
tivity level and will be useful in assessing public doses.
Radon exhalation rate from fly ash is of prime importance for
the estimation of radiation risk. In the present study, the radon
exhalation rates from the fly ash samples collected from the NTPC
(National Thermal Power Corporation) power plant at Dadri situ-
ated in Uttar Pradesh in India have been measured and Indoor
inhalation exposure (radon) effective doses have been estimated
from the radon exhalation rates.
NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) Dadri is the project
to meet the power demand of national capital region. It generates
about 840 MW of electric power by means of coal fired thermal
power plant.
2. Experimental details
222 232 40
2.1. Estimation of Ra, Th and K
Collected fly ash samples were stored in polyethylene bags,
dried in an oven at 110  C for 1 h and sieved through 100 mesh
sieve. Samples (250 g) were sealed in air tight plastic container and
left for more than one month to allow radioactive equilibrium
among the uranium and thorium and their decay products. After
this, the samples were subjected to high resolution gamma spec-
troscopy analysis in the months of winter season (November to
January). This region is normal background area. The measure-
ments were carried out at Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New
Delhi using a coaxial n-type HPGe detector (EG & G, ORTEC, Oak
Ridge USA). The detector having a resolution of 2.0 keV and a rela-
tive efficiency of 20% was placed in 4 inch shield of lead bricks on all
sides to reduce the background radiation from building materials
and cosmic rays (Kumar et al., 2001). The detector was coupled to
a PC based 4 K multi channel analyzer and an ADC for data
161
acquisition. The samples were counted for a period of 72,000 s for
activity measurements.
Natural radionuclides of relevance to this work are mainly
gamma ray emitting nuclei in the decay series of 232Th and 226Ra,
and 40K. While 40K can be measured by its own gamma ray, 232Th
and 226Ra are not gamma ray emitters. However, it is possible to
measure gamma rays of their decay products. Decay products taken
for 226Ra were: 214Pb, 295 and 352 keV and for 214Bi: 609, 1120 and
1764 keV whereas for 232Th were: 228Ac, 338, 463, 911 and 968 keV,
212
Bi, 727 keV, 212Pb, 238 keV and 234Pa, 1001 keV gamma rays by
assuming the decay series to be in equilibrium (Firestone and
Shirely, 1998). The spectra were analyzed using locally developed
software CANDLE (Collection and Analysis of Nuclear Data using
Linux Net work). The activity of each sample was determined using
the total net counts under selected photo peak after subtracting
appropriate background counts and applying appropriate factors
for photo efficiency, branching intensity of radionuclides and
weight of the samples.
The concentration of radium, thorium and potassium was
calculated using the equation (Mahur et al., 2010).

 ðS
sÞ  100  1000  100
Activity Bq kg1 ¼ (1)
EW A
Where S is the net counts/sec (cps) under the photo peak of
interest, s the standard deviation of S, E the counting efficiency (%),
A the gamma abundance or branching intensity (%) of the radio-
nuclide and W is the mass of the sample (kg).
2.2. Radon exhalation rate
Fly ash samples collected from NTPC, Dadri, were dried and
sieved through a 100 mesh sieve. For the measurement of radon
exhalation rate, “Sealed can technique” was used. Equal amount of
samples (100 g) were placed in the “Cans” (diameter 7.0 cm and
height 7.5 cm) as shown in Fig. 1 similar to those used in the cali-
bration experiment (Singh et al., 1997). LR-115 Type II solid state
nuclear track detector (2 cm  2 cm) was fixed on the top inside of
the “Can”. Sensitive lower surface of the detector is freely exposed
to the emergent radon so that it could record the tracks of alpha
particles resulting from the decay of radon in the remaining volume
of “Can”. Radon and its daughters reach an equilibrium concen-
tration after 4 h and hence the equilibrium activity of emergent
radon can be obtained from the geometry of “Can” and time of
Fig. 1. Experimental setup for the measurement of radon exhalation rate using “Sealed
Can Technique”.
162 M. Gupta et al. / Radiation Measurements 50 (2013) 160e165
exposure. After the exposure for 95 days, the detectors were etched
in 2.5 N NaOH at 60  C for a period of 90 min in a constant
temperature water bath. The resultant alpha-particle tracks were
counted using an optical microscope at a magnification of 400.
From the track density the radon activity was obtained using
a calibration factor of 0.056 track cm2 d1 (Bq m3)1 obtained
from an earlier calibration experiment (Singh et al., 1997).
Surface exhalation rate ‘EA’ is obtained from the following
expression (Mahur et al., 2008a, b)
CV l
EA ¼  o
1 n lT
A Tþ e 1
l 2.3.5. Indoor internal exposure due to radon inhalation
This formula is also modified to calculate the mass exhalation
rate ‘EM”
CV l
EM ¼  o
1 n lT
M Tþ e 1
l Ex  S
where, EA is measured in Bq m2 h1 and EM in Bq kg1 h1; C is the
integrated radon exposure as measured by LR-115 solid state
nuclear track detectors (Bq m3 h); V is the effective volume of can
(m3); l is the decay constant for radon (h1); T is the exposure time
(h); A is the area of the can (m2) and M is mass of the sample.
2.3. Estimation of dose rates
2.3.1. Absorbed gamma dose rate
The absorbed gamma dose rate in air 1 m above the ground
surface for uniform distribution of radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and
40
K) was computed on the basis of guidelines provided by UNSCEAR
(2000). The dose conversion factors used to convert the activity
concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in to doses (nGy h1 per
Bq kg1) are 0.462, 0.604 and 0.0417 Gy h1, respectively. Therefore


D nGy h1 ¼ 0:462CRa þ 0:604CTh þ 0:0417CK
Where, CRa, CTh and CK are the average activity concentrations of
226
Ra, 232Th, and 40K in Bq kg1.
2.3.2. Annual external effective dose rate
The annual external effective dose rate E, was estimated by
using the conversion coefficient from absorbed dose in air to
effective dose (0.7 Sv Gy1) and outdoor occupancy factor (0.2)
proposed by UNSCEAR (2000) were used.



E mSv y1 ¼ Dose rate in air nGy h1  8760 h  0:2
 0:7 Sv Gy1  106
2.3.3. Radium equivalent activity
To obtain the sum of activities for comparison of specific
radioactivities of materials containing different radionuclides
226
Ra, 232Th and 40K, an index has been defined called the ‘radium
equivalent activity ‘Raeq’ (Hamilton, 1971). It has been estimated
that 370 Bq kg1 of 226Ra or 259 Bq kg1 of 232Th or 4810 Bq kg1 of
40
K produce the same gamma ray dose rate. Thus the radium
equivalent activities (Raeq) are estimated using the following
equation (Yu et al., 1992; Hayambu et al., 1995):
Raeq ¼ ARa þ ðATh  1:43Þ þ ðAK  0:077Þ
where, ARa, ATh and AK are activities in Bq kg1 of 226
Ra, 232
Th and
40
K respectively.
2.3.4. External hazard index
The external hazard index is obtained from radium equivalent
expression through the supposition that it allows maximum value
equal to unity. For limiting the radiation dose from building
materials external hazard index (Hex) can be defined as (Mahur
et al., 2008a, b):
CU C C
Hex ¼ þ Th þ K  1 (7)
370 259 4810
This index value must be less than unity in order to keep the
(2) radiation hazard to be insignificant.
The risk of lung cancer from domestic exposure of radon and its
daughters can be estimated directly from the indoor inhalation
exposure (radon) effective dose. The contribution of indoor radon
concentration from fly ash samples can be calculated from the
(3)
following expression (Mahur et al., 2008a, b).
CRn ¼ (8)
V  lv
where, CRn is radon concentration (Bq m3); Ex is radon exhalation
rate (Bq m2 h1); S is radon exhalation area (m2); V is room
volume (m3), and lv is air exchange rate (h1).
The maximum radon concentration from the building material
was assessed by assuming the room as a cavity with S/V ¼ 2.0 m1
and air exchange rate of 0.5 h1. The annual exposure to potential
alpha energy Ep (effective dose equivalent) is then related to the
average radon concentration CRn by following expression
h i 8760  n  F  CRn
Ep WLM y1 ¼ (9)
170  3700
where, CRn is in Bq m3; n is the fraction of time spent indoor; 8760,
the number of hours per year; 170, the number of hours per
working month and F, the equilibrium factor for radon is taken as
(4) 0.4 as suggested by UNSCEAR (2000). Radon progeny equilibrium is
most important quantity where dose calculations are to be made on
the basis of the measurement of radon concentration. It may have
value 0 < F < 1. Thus the values of n ¼ 0.8 and F ¼ 0.4 were used.
From radon exposure the indoor inhalation exposure (radon)
effective dose were estimated by using a conversion factor of
3.88 mSv (WLM)1 (ICRP, 1993).
3. Results and discussion
In recent years fly ash has found diversified applications in
construction materials, so it is important to find its emanation
potential to estimate the radiation risk to the population from
226
Ra, 232Th and 40K activity concentration and also the radon
(5) exhalation rates.
Around the thermal power plant the health risks are high.
Measured activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K together
with their average values in fly ash samples are given in Table 1. The
activity concentrations of 226Ra and 232Th vary from 81.8
3.2 to
177.3
10.0 Bq kg1 and 111.6
3.2 to 178.5
3.9 Bq kg1 with an
average value of 118.6
7.4 Bq kg1 and 147.0
3.4 Bq kg1
respectively. Potassium activity was found to be below detection
limit in two samples, but other samples have shown potassium
activity to vary from 365.9
4.8 to 495.9
6.2 Bq kg1 with an
average value of 352.0
4.5 Bq kg1. The average activity
concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in fly ash samples of NTPC,
(6)
Dadri are higher than the world figure reported by UNSCEAR
(2000) which is 40 Bq kg1 for radium and thorium series and
370 Bq kg1 for potassium. This reveals that the measured
 M. Gupta et al. / Radiation Measurements 50 (2013) 160e165 163

Table 1 Table 3
Average activity concentration of uranium, thorium and potassium as well as the Average radon exhalation rate in fly ash samples from different thermal power
corresponding standard deviation in fly ash samples from NTPC Dadri, (U.P.) India. plants in India.

Samples no. Activity concentration (Bq kg1) Name of thermal power plant Average radon Reference
226 232 40 exhalation rate
Ra Th K
(
SD) (mBq m2 h1)
F-1 96.1
7.0 111.6
3.2 467.6
5.8
Kasimpur, Aligarh (U.P.) 275.3
45.7 Mahur et al.
F-2 94.8
6.2 146.3
3.6 495.9
6.2
Parichha, Jhansi (U.P.) 257.6
48.7 (2008a,b)
F-3 81.0
3.2 159.9
3.7 365.9
4.8
Obra, Mirjapur (U.P.) 239.9
24.8
F-4 177.3
10.0 141.4
3.5 BDLa
Kolaghat (WB) 1310.0
150.0
F-5 98.2
5.4 157.1
3.7 BDLa
Durgapur (WB) 406.2
37.7
F-6 117.8
7.8 150.4
3.6 409.7
5.3
NTPC, Dadri (U.P.) 155.5
54.0 Present study
F-7 143.8
9.9 175.8
3.9 387.9
5.1
F-8 133.1
9.5 178.5
3.9 409.4
5.3
F-9 128.9
9.5 144.3
3.5 446.5
5.7


439.6
5.7
to be vary from 3.1
0.4 to 9.3
0.6 mBq kg1 h1 with an average
F-10 151.1 11.0 114.1 2.4
F-11 81.8
2.2 141.5
2.7 449.4
5.3
Average value 118.6
7.4 147.3
3.4 352.0
4.5 value of 6.0
0.5 mBq kg1 h1 Table 3 shows a comparison of
S.D. 29.7
2.8 20.2
0.4 169.5
2.1 average radon exhalation rate in fly ash samples of NTPC Dadri with
Rel. Std. % 25.1
37.3 13.7
13.1 48.2
47.7 other thermal power plants in India. The surface exhalation rate in
a
Below detection limit. fly ash of NTPC Dadri is found to be less than the fly ash from other
thermal power plants in India (Mahur et al., 2008a, b).
Uranium is present in the carbonaceous components of sedi-
mentary rocks and accumulates in coal during the process of
radioactivity levels from naturally occurring radionuclides in fly ash coalification. It is mainly present in the organic fraction in coal due
samples of NTPC Dadri are comparable to the corresponding level to sorptive uptake onto the organic fraction during the early stages
obtained world wide. of peat accumulation and burial (Zielinski and Budahn, 1986)
Radium equivalent activity (Raeq) is related to the external whereas thorium is present in inorganic phases. The area around
gamma dose and internal dose due to radon and its daughters. The the ash ponds is dominantly composed of laterites with clay at the
maximum value of radium equivalent activity in building top. It is known that clays are great repositories of trace elements.
construction materials must be less than 370 Bq kg1 for safe use The ashes on drying get mixed with the clay and constitute the top
and the maximum value of external hazard index (Hex) allowed is soil of the area. Hence, the radionuclides are absorbed on to the top
unity corresponding to the upper limit of Raeq (370 Bq kg1). In the clay layer. Uranium gets leached out by the percolating rainwater
present study the calculated values of Raeq range from 283.2 to and sub-surface run off, while thorium is absorbed onto the top
422.4 Bq kg1 with an average value of 353.9 Bq kg1. The calcu- layer. Due to this reason the ash when sampled and measured gives
lated values of external hazard index (Hex) vary from 0.77 to 1.87 high concentration of thorium compared to that of uranium
with an average value of 1.03. Most of the samples show the values (Mondal et al., 2006).
of Raeq, close to 370 Bq kg1 and Hex close to unity respectively Table 4 presents the radiation risk quantities obtained from
226
except two samples. Since all these values of Hex except two are Ra, 232Th and 40K activity concentration and radon exhalation
lower than unity, the fly ash is safe and can be used as construction rate. The gamma absorbed dose rates vary from 122.8 to
material but with care. 188.8 nGy h1 with a mean value of 158.4 nGy h1 which is w4
Radon activity and Radon exhalation rate measured in a number times higher than the world average (43 nGy h1) given by
of fly ash samples collected from NTPC, Dadri, U.P. are presented in UNSCEAR (1998). Annual effective dose varies from 0.15 to
Table 2. The value of the radon activities was found to vary from 0.23 mSv y1 with an average value 0.19 mSv y1.
222.6
25.8 to 673.7
45.1 Bq m3 with an average value of Calculated values of indoor inhalation exposure (radon) effec-
431.7
35.5 Bq m3. Surface exhalation rate has been found to vary tive dose are also presented in Table 4 which vary from 5.8
0.7 to
from 80.1
9.3 to 242.7
16.3 mBq m2 h1 with an average value 17.6
1.2 mSv y1 with an average value of 11.3
0.9 mSv y1. Indoor
155.5
12.8 mBq m2 h1 whereas mass exhalation rate are found inhalation exposure (radon) effective dose from fly ash collected
from NTPC is less than 0.3 mSv y1, the dose constraint (ICRP, 2007)
based assessment, e.g. with Emax.
Table 5 shows a comparison of mean activity coefficients of
Table 2 radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and absorbed dose rate from fly ash
Radon activity and radon exhalation in fly ash samples from NTPC Dadri, (U.P.) India.
of NTPC with those from other thermal power plants in India. Thus,
Samples Radon activity Exhalation rate Exhalation rate it is seen that the ashes of NTPC, Dadri are enriched in radionuclide
(Bq m3) ‘EA’ (mBq m2 h1) ‘EM’ (mBq kg1 h1) of 232Th compared to other thermal power plants in India. The
F-1 610.5
42.7 219.9
15.4 8.5
0.6 activity concentration of 226Ra is found to be large as compared to
F-2 649.6
44.2 234.0
15.9 9.0
0.6 other thermal power stations except two, the ashes of Nasik
F-3 222.6
25.8 80.1
9.3 3.1
0.4
F-4 673.7
45.1 242.7
16.3 9.3
0.6
(Maharashtra) and Bandel (W.B.). The ashes of Nasik and Bandel
F-5 303.8
30.1 109.5
10.8 4.2
0.4 thermal power plants are enriched in radionuclide of 226Ra
F-6 375.9
33.4 135.4
12.0 5.2
0.5 compared to those of NTPC Dadri and other thermal power stations.
F-7 297.7
30.1 107.3
10.8 4.1
0.4 The activity concentration of 40K is more in the ashes of Allahabad,
F-8 436.1
36.2 157.1
13.0 6.0
0.5
Ramagendam, Neyvelli and Nellore power stations as compared to
F-9 466.2
37.3 168.0
13.4 6.5
0.5
F-10 430.1
36.1 155.0
13.0 6.0
0.5 NTPC, Dadri. The absorbed dose rate is found to be higher than the
F-11 282.7
29.1 101.9
10.5 3.9
0.4 other measurements on the fly ash samples from different thermal
Average 431.7
35.5 155.5
12.8 6.0
0.5 power plants situated in different places in India as shown in
value Table 5. Fig. 2 present the bar diagram showing the activity
S.D. 148.5
6.2 54.0
2.0 2.1
0.08
Rel. Std. % 34.4
17.5 34.5
17.0 34.5
16.0
concentration of radium, thorium, potassium and absorbed dose
rate.
164 M. Gupta et al. / Radiation Measurements 50 (2013) 160e165

Table 4
Absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose, Raeq activity, external hazard index and Indoor inhalation exposure (radon) effective dose in fly ash samples from NTPC Dadri (U.P.),
India.

Samples Absorbed dose Annual effective Radium equivalent External Indoor inhalation exposure (radon)
no. rate (nGy h1) dose (mSv y1) activity (Raeq) (Bq kg1) hazard index (Hex) effective dose (mSv y1)
F-1 131.3 0.16 288.4 0.79 16.0
1.1
F-2 152.9 0.19 338.8 0.92 17.0
1.2
F-3 149.6 0.18 336.1 0.92 5.8
0.7
F-4 122.8 0.15 283.2 0.77 17.6
1.2
F-5 140.2 0.17 322.8 0.88 7.9
0.8
F-6 162.4 0.20 361.6 0.99 9.8
0.9
F-7 188.8 0.23 422.4 1.87 7.8
0.8
F-8 186.4 0.23 417.0 1.13 11.4
0.9
F-9 165.3 0.20 366.5 1.00 12.2
1.0
F-10 157.1 0.19 345.1 0.94 11.2
0.9
F-11 186.1 0.23 411.1 1.12 7.4
0.8
Average 158.4 0.19 353.9 1.03 11.3
0.9
value
S.D. 21.3 0.03 45.8 0.28 3.9
0.2
Rel. Std. % 13.4 13.68 12.9 27.2 34.4
19.6

Table 5
Comparison of mean activity coefficients of radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) and absorbed dose rate from fly ash of NTPC Dadri, with other thermal power plants in India.

Thermal power station (India) Activity (Bq kg1) Absorbed dose rates (nGy h1) References
226 232 40
Ra Th K
Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) 78.4 89.1 362.7 107.6 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Angul (Orissa) 78.5 86.5 278.1 102.4 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Badarpur (Delhi) 75.5 88.1 286.4 102.5 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Chandrapur (Madhya Pradesh) 58.2 89.2 301.2 96.5 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Raichur (Karnataka) 83.1 102.5 334.1 117.3 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Talchir (Orissa) 79.2 96.3 291.6 109.7 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Bokaro (Bihar) 70.3 118.4 252.0 118.9 Lalit et al. (1986)
Ramagundam (Andhra Pradesh) 59.2 95.1 507.0 109.4 Lalit et al. (1986)
Neyvelli (Tamil Nadu) 64 126.9 370.0 126.8 Lalit et al. (1986)
Amarkantak (Madhya Pradesh) 49.2 106.2 329.3 105.0 Lalit et al. (1986)
Nasik (Maharashtra) 126.9 138.0 279.0 157.2 Lalit et al. (1986)
Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) 64 126.9 370.0 126.8 Lalit et al. (1986)
Farakka (West Bengal) 84.1 98.8 297.1 113.7 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Bakreshwar (West Bengal) 76.3 87.5 288.1 102.5 Vijayan and Behera (1999)
Kolaghat (West Bengal) 111.4 140.2 350.7 150.8 Mondal et al. (2006)
Durgapur (West Bengal) 97.3 107.5 315.8 123.0 Mondal et al. (2006)
Bandel (West Bengal) 126.9 106.3 321.8 136.3 Mondal et al. (2006)
NTPC, Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) 118.6 147.3 352.0 158.4 Present study

The data is given in bold as (i) This data is obtained from the present experiment (ii) This data is compared with the previous available data from India.

4. Conclusion
The radon exhalation rates of the fly ash samples from NTPC
Dadri are measured as radon an inert gas released from the decay
of radium is an alpha emitter and can damage the lungs on
inhalation and are found to be lower from other thermal power
plants but within the limit prescribed by Radiation Protection
Agencies. Comparatively high values of activity concentration of
226
Ra, 232Th and 40K in fly ash samples collected from NTPC Dadri
(UP) are found. Absorbed radiation doses studied here are quite
high as compared to that from other power plants of India. The
radium equivalent activity (Raeq) and external hazards index (Hex)
values are closer to the allowed upper limit of 370 Bq kg1 and
unity respectively. Thus the concentration of natural radionu-
clides in ash used as additives in building materials should be
monitored carefully. There seems to be positive correlation
between activity concentration of radium and radon exhalation
rate.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Nuclear Thermal Power Corporation

authorities for providing fly ash samples. Sincere thanks are also
due to Dr. Amit Roy, Director, Inter University Accelerator Centre,
New Delhi for providing facilities for analysis of this work. Ajay
Kumar Mahur wishes to thank the Department of Science and
Technology (D. S. T.), New Delhi for providing financial assistance
Fig. 2. Bar diagram showing activity concentration of 226
Ra, 232
Th, 40
K and absorbed for attending the International conference and present this
gamma dose rate in different samples. research work.
 M. Gupta et al. / Radiation Measurements 50 (2013) 160e165 165

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