Review of international normatives for natural radioactivity determination in building materials

• Authors: Eros Mossini , Elena Macerata , Marco Giola , Mario Mariani
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Anthropogenic activities, such as high-altitude flights and living in buildings, have enhanced the public exposure to natural radiation. In particular, 40K and radionuclides belonging to 232Th and 238U decay chains are present even in building materials, and they may be considered as partially responsible for the effective dose coming from natural radioactivity. Scientists and governments have devoted great attention to the evaluation of the effects produced on the public by naturally occurring radionuclides. In this context, to evaluate the building materials acceptability, accurate and reliable methods for the measurement of the specific activity of natural radioactive isotopes in building materials have been developed. This paper aims to provide a clear and exhaustive review on natural radionuclide measurement procedures. Several standard national normatives (Dutch NEN 5697, Italian UNI 10797, Polish ITB 455), based on gamma spectrometry, have been considered and some critical issues were identified regarding the preparation and the radiometric measuring of the samples. Therefore, the direct measurement of 238U and 232Th by ICP-MS spectrometry as well as the extrapolation of the specific activities without waiting for secular equilibrium have been considered as two promising alternative approaches.

Keywords

EN

acceptability · building materials · gamma spectrometry · inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) · naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Nukleonika
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 597-602

Dates

published

1 - 9 - 2015

accepted

20 - 5 - 2015

received

24 - 9 - 2014

online

25 - 9 - 2015

Contributors

author

Eros Mossini

• Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milano, I-20133, Italy

author

Elena Macerata

• Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milano, I-20133, Italy

author

Marco Giola

• Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milano, I-20133, Italy

author

Mario Mariani

• Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, Milano, I-20133, Italy

References

• 1. UNSCEAR. (2000). Sources, effects and risks of ionizing radiation. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. Report to the General Assembly. New York: United Nations.
• 2. IAEA. (1990). The use of gamma-ray data to define the natural radiation environment. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency. (Technical Document no. 566).
• 3. NEA-OECD. (1979). Exposure to radiation from natural radioactivity in building materials. Report by Nuclear Energy Agency Group of Experts.
• 4. ARPANSA. (2005). Naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in Australia: issues for discussion. Report by Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.
• 5. Righi, S., & Bruzzi, L. (2006). Natural radioactivity and radon exhalation in building materials used in Italian dwellings. J. Environ. Radioact., 88, 158-170. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2006.01.009.[Crossref]
• 6. EC. (1999). Radiological protection principles concerning the natural radioactivity of building materials. Radiat. Prot., 112.
• 7. Laiche, T. P., & Scott, L. M. (1991). A radiological evaluation of phosphogypsum. Health Phys., 60, 691-693.
• 8. STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. (2010). The radioactivity of building materials and ash. Guide ST 12.2. STUK.
• 9. Steger, F., & Grün, K. (1999). Radioactivity in building materials önorm s 5200: a standard in Austria to limit natural radioactivity in building materials (revised and definite version). In Conference Proceeding of Radon in the Living Environment, 19-23 April 1999, Athens.
• 10. Standard Institute of Israeli. (2007). SI 5098, Content of natural radioactive elements in building products. Tel-Aviv, Israel.
• 11. Vietnam National Radiation and Nuclear Safety. (1999). Decree No. 50.
• 12. National Standard of the People’s Republic of China. (2001). GB 6566, Limits of radionuclides in building materials.
• 13. Kovler, K. (2008). Radiological constraints of using building materials and industrial by-products in construction. Constr. Build. Mater., 23, 253-264. DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.[WoS][Crossref]
• 14. ISO. (2007). Standard 18589-3: Measurement of the radioactivity in the environment - Soil - Part 3: Measurement of gamma-emitting radionuclides.
• 15. ASTM. (2009). Standard C 1402: Standard guide for high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry of soil samples.
• 16. Nederlands Normalisatie Instituut. (2001). NEN 5697: Determination of the natural radioactivity in stony building materials by means of semiconductor gamma-ray spectrometry.
• 17. Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione. (1999). UNI 10797: Natural radionuclides in building materials - High resolution gamma-ray spectrometry.
• 18. Instytut Techniki Budowlanej. (2010). ITB 455: Natural radioactivity testing of raw materials and building materials. Warsaw.
• 19. Instytut Techniki Budowlanej. (1980). ITB 234: Guiding rules of investigating of the natural radioactivity of building raws and materials. Instruction. Warsaw.
• 20. ISO. (2007). Standard 18589-2: Measurement of the radioactivity in the environment - Soil - Part 3: Guidance for the selection of the sampling strategy, sampling and pre-treatment of samples.
• 21. Bruzzi, L., Baroni, M., Mele, R., & Nanni, E. (1997). Proposal for a method of certifi cation of natural radioactivity in building materials. J. Radiol. Prot., 17(2), 85-97. DOI: 10.1088/0952-4746/17/2/005.[Crossref]
• 22. Charewicz, W. A., Zebrowski, A., Walkowiak, W., & Borek, B. (2000). A modified method for the determination of radioactive isotopes in building materials with multichannel gamma spectrometry. Nukleonika, 45, 243-247.
• 23. IAEA. (1989). Measurement of radionuclides in food and the environment. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency. (Technical Report Series 295).
• 24. ASTM. (2006). Standard D 7282: Standard practice for set-up, calibration, and quality control of instruments used for radioactivity measurements.
• 25. ASTM. (2010). Standard E 181: Standard test methods for detector calibration and analysis of radionuclides.
• 26. Hassan, N. M., Ishikawa, T., Hosoda, M., Sorimachi, A., Tokonami, S., Fukushi, M., & Sahoo, S. K. (2010). Assessment of the natural radioactivity using two techniques for the measurement of radionuclide concentration in building materials used in Japan. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 283, 15-21. DOI: 10.1007/ s10967-009-0050-6. [Crossref][WoS]

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/nuka-2015-0101