BARC/PUB/2014/1478

 
 

Radiological measurement of phosphate rock and phosphogypsum from fertilizer industries in India

 
     
 
Author(s)

Sartandel, S. J.; Bara, S. V.; Chinnaesakki, S.; Jha, S. K.; Tripathi, R. M.
(HPD)

Source

Journal of Radioanalytical & Nuclear Chemistry, 2014. Vol. 302 (3): pp. 1441-1447

ABSTRACT

Phosphate deposits are generally characterized by high levels of natural radionuclide concentrations. Natural radionuclides from the uranium and thorium series were measured, using high-resolution gamma-spectrometry in phosphate rock and phosphogypsum samples from the phosphate fertilizer industry in India. Equilibrium was found to be disrupted during the chemical processing of phosphate rock with 83 % of the 226Ra and only 5 % of 238U fractionating to phosphogypsum. Activity concentrations of 238U and 226Ra in phosphogypsum produced from various fertilizer industries of India showed levels<1,000 Bq kg-1 and pose no restriction for use in building/construction material.

 
 
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