Levantamento dos níveis da radioatividade natural em rocha no município de Pedras - PE

Abstract

Specific activity data from rock samples in a region with uranium ore anomaly located in the municipality of Pedras, Agreste of Pernambuco. It made it possible to assess the potential radioactive risk to humans and the environment, formulating conditions for defining operational criteria and assessing the impacts arising from the extraction and use of natural resources, defining a radiometric standard for the area studied and mitigating measures to avoid contamination and exposure. Assuming the importance of radioecological dosimetry, the absence of a radiometric map of the state and little evidence of studies of environmental radioactivity in Brazil. A study was carried out whose main objective was to evaluate the migration of natural radionuclides and their quantification, applying a non-destructive analysis method, making use of gamma spectrometry with a high resolution detector (HPGe), The activities found for 238U, 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K was 682.21 kBq; 1070.05 kBq; 4.12 kBq; 3.89 kBq, respectively. The relevance of this study allowed the survey of natural radioactivity levels in radiologically impacted rocky outcrops in the municipality, defining the region as an area of high radiometric background, a reference for future radiological observations and comparisons between anomalous regions in the state of Pernambuco.