Radiological Risk Estimates Due to Background Exposures in Selected Hospitals in South – East Nigeria
Journal Title: Archives of Current Research International - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 1
Abstract
Radiation is present everywhere on the Earth and humans are exposed to it without being aware of it. Exposure to natural ionizing radiation is inevitable as long as we live on Earth. An in-situ measurement of indoor and outdoor exposure dose rates of Federal Medical Center Umuahia (FMC Umuahia) and Federal Medical Center Owerri (FMC Owerri) were measured with well calibrated radiation meters (Radalert-100 and Digilert-200). The average indoor and outdoor exposure rates for Federal Medical Center Umuahia were 0.014±0.003 and 0.014±0.003 mRh-1, while that for Federal Medical Center Owerri were 0.012±0.002 mRh-1 and 0.013±0.002 mRh-1. The values show that the exposure rates for Federal Medical Center Owerri is within the range of the World threshold value of 0.013 mRh-1, while that of FMC Umuahia is higher. The average indoor and outdoor absorbed dose rate measured at federal medical centre (FMC) Owerri are 106.7 and 104.7 nGyh-1 respectively while the average indoor and outdoor absorbed dose for Federal medical center (FMC) Umuahia are 120.1 and 116.8 nGyh-1 respectively. These values exceeded the world average of 89 nGyh-1. Also the results for average excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) calculated for indoor and outdoor for the hospitals show that ELCR for both indoor and outdoor exposures were all higher than the world acceptable value of 0.29x10-3, but the annual effective dose levels for the hospitals both indoor and outdoor were all below the 1 mSvy-1 maximum permissible limit for the public set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Therefore there is need for the management of the hospitals to monitor radiation levels in other to take necessary precautions to avoid radiation levels getting to unacceptable levels.
Authors and Affiliations
I. E. Nwokeoji, G. O. Avwiri
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP320161
- DOI 10.9734/ACRI/2017/34244
- Views 99
- Downloads 0
Maximizing Overall Equipment Effectiveness in a Food Processing Industry: A Case Study
In this study, TPM strategies were deployed to improve the production performance of a manufacturing facility. The OEE quantitative metric has been followed here to solve the underlying problem of reducing the frequency...
Time Periodic Varying Deceleration Parameter in Reconstructed f(R,T) Gravity
In this paper, we have investigated a string cloud with perfect fluid matter distributions for Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) space-time in reconstructedf(R,T)=α_1 R+α_2 f_3 (T) gravity. To obtain exact solutions of th...
Contextual Factors Associated with Domestic Violence among Currently Married Women in Zambia: Findings from Zambia Demographic Health Survey
This study examined factors associated with domestic violence in the bid to offer a comprehensive understanding of the various factors associated with different types of domestic violence. The data for the study was deri...
Modulations of Hibiscus sabdariffa Extract on Ethanol Induced Hepatotoxicity
Commonly known as “zobo”, Hibiscus sabdariffa has been used in different parts of the world for medicinal and nutritional purposes. This work studied its activity on the liver in its course of daily usage as a refreshing...
Yield Performance and Heavy Metals Uptake of Solanum lycopersicum, Inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Trichoderma harzianum
The study was conducted to investigate the yield performance and heavy metals uptake of Solanum lycopersicum irrigated with contaminated stream water. For this purpose tomato plants was cultivated in soil irrigated with...