Naturally occurring radioactivity in some Swedish concretes and their constituents – Assessment by using I-index and dose-model

Publication date: May 2016
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volumes 155–156
Author(s): M. Döse, J. Silfwerbrand, C. Jelinek, J. Trägårdh, M. Isaksson
The reference level for effective dose due to gamma radiation from building materials and construction products used for dwellings is set to 1 mSv per year (EC, 1996, 1999), (CE, 2014). Given the specific conditions presented by the EC in report 112 (1999) considering building and construction materials, an I-index of 1 may generate an effective dose of 1 mSv per year. This paper presents a comparison of the activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th of aggregates and when these aggregates constitute a part of concrete. The activity concentration assessment tool for building and construction materials, the I-index, introduced by the EC in 1996, is used in the comparison. A comparison of the I-indices values are also made with a recently presented dose model by Hoffman (2014), where density variations of the construction material and thickness of the construction walls within the building are considered. There was a ∼16–19% lower activity index in concretes than in the corresponding aggregates. The model by Hoffman further implies that the differences between the I-indices of aggregates and the concretes' final effective doses are even larger. The difference is due, mainly to a dilution effect of the added cement with low levels of natural radioisotopes, but also to a different and slightly higher subtracted background value (terrestrial value) used in the modeled calculation of the revised I-index by Hoffman (2014). Only very minimal contributions to the annual dose could be related to the water and additives used, due to their very low content of radionuclides reported.



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