© T.

Abate, Published by EDP Sciences, 2022

EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022) Nuclear
Sciences
& Technologies
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2022012
Available online at:
https://www.epj-n.org

REGULAR ARTICLE

Radioactivity and health risk assessments in cement samples

commonly used as construction materials in the case of South
Gondar Zone, Ethiopia
Tadesse Abate *
Department of Physics, Debre Tabor University, P.O. Box 272, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

Received: 26 February 2022 / Received in final form: 4 April 2022 / Accepted: 22 June 2022

Abstract. This work deals with the measurement of the radioactivity concentrations from different cement
samples collected from the South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. The measurement of naturally occurring radioiso-
topes and radiation health impact indices caused by these nuclides in cement samples are indisputable in the
dwellings. Specifically, the average concentrations for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K were estimated as 76.53, 81.67,
and 407 Bq kg−1 , respectively. It was seen that all the measured mean values were greater than the world’s
limited levels. External and internal hazard indices are calculated as defined by the European Commission
from the corresponding concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K nuclides. Moreover, the natural radionuclides
have variety of concentrations which must be caused by the types of raw materials used in the industries for
the production of cement.

1 Introduction by those gamma releasing material examining of build-

ing equipment with the dose rate modeling. This outdoor
Knowing of man about naturally occurring radioactiv- dose estimation due to the natural sources is essential as
ity concentrations and their distribution in the living these doses vary depending upon the values of the radioac-
areas have become a focus of much attention in assessing tive materials of 226 Ra, 232 Th and their decay products
the human health indices. Naturally occurring radioactive and 40 K, found in soil and rocks which more depend-
materials are widely spread in the earth’s environment ing upon local soil and rock types of each country [13].
and exist various geological formations such as soils, rocks, Since radium is found everywhere in the environment, its
plants, water bodies, air, and construction materials [1–3]. essential daughter nucleus radon is found everywhere with
Finding of levels for these radioactive elements in build- varying concentration and its solid daughter products of
218
ing equipment plays the prominent roles in the evaluation Po and 214 Po which have a chance to distribute them-
of public health indices, as most citizens kill 80% of their selves over the aerosols in ambient air [3,11–15]. When
time indoors in either of living homes or working offices [4– we take or inhale radon gas or and its daughters along
7]. Naturally occurring radiation sources in construction with normal air, most of radon is exhaled, and its decay
materials are means of external particle exposure sources products got logged to the inner walls and membranes of
in dwellings [3,5–7]. Thus, Uranium, Thorium and their our respiratory organ and continue constant change due
daughter products and 40 K are important elements which their alpha ionization power. Different cancers and kid-
played the predominant role to contribute a large part of ney diseases are so influenced by the intake of solid radon
energy dose received by people [8]. The radiation is caused daughter products [5,16–18].
by gamma ray originating from the Uranium, Thorium Radiological health disturbance caused by radionuclides
series and from 40 K [8–10]. due to particle energy exposure of a body by the gamma
The average levels of these radionuclides in the natural rays and irradiation of the lung cells from inhalation of
222
environment are 35, 30 and 400 Bq/kg, respectively [4,5]. Rn is therefore attracted the world researchers for more
The accepted values in all parts of the world average due investigations [16]. Thus, radiation sources and radioac-
to gamma ray from construction materials is equivalent tivity in building materials have got considerable research
to 0.4 mSv/y [4]. This external radiation exposure caused interest hence humans are exposed to radiation sources
at different levels based on natural radioactive minerals
* e-mail: [email protected] present in each region worldwide [19–24]. The purpose of

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
2 T. Abate: EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022)

16 hours until they reached a constant weight to elimi-

nate moisture and humidity. After moisture removal, the
samples were cooled in moisture-free atmosphere at room
temperature [26]. The dried cement samples were stored
into pre-weighting cylindrical plastic container (beaker)
of that has a diameter of 6 cm and 7 cm height within
the overall volume of 197.82 cm3 . The cylindrical plas-
tic container were hermetically sealed with vinyl tape
around its screw neck to prevent possible escape of radon
gases. The default method of radon sealing is done by
placing the sample container into an aluminum-lined bag
and evacuating it using a Henkovac Mini Eco commer-
cial vacuum packaging machine [27]. The closed samples
were stored for a minimum period of 30 days to allow
for a secular equilibrium between 226 Ra, 222 Rn and its
short-lived decay products before gamma spectrometer
Fig. 1. (a) Map of Ethiopia. (b) Regional map of Amhara. (c) measurements.
Map of the study sites in Amhara province, Ethiopia [25]. The measurement was carried-out using p-type high
purity Germanium detector which has an efficiency of 48%
at 1332 keV and resolution of 1.786 keV with 60 Co iso-
this study is to evaluate the naturally occurring radioac- tope. The detector was covered by lead at the coat of 10
tivity values of the commonly used construction material cm diameter. A used lead shield was with a fixed place at
called cement in South Gondar zone in the unit of Bq a base and a moving cover to shield the detector from the
kg−1 and to estimate the health impact caused by these above to prevent background radiation interactions. The
radioactivity. 2 mm thick copper lining was used at the inner side of
the shield to protect the detector from unwanted particles
produced by the interaction of background with the mate-
2 Methodology rial around a lead detector. A photo-peak efficiency was
determined as a function of the gamma-emission energy,
2.1 Location of study area Eγ . These efficiencies  were fitted to the energy values
[7].
South Gondar is located in Amhara Region, Ethiopia.
This zone is named for the city of Gondar, which was the 4  i
capital of Ethiopia until the mid-19th century, and has
X Eγ
ln  = ai (1)
often been used as a name for the local province. South i=0
E0
Gondar Zone is bordered on the south by East Gojjam,
on the southwest by West Gojjam and Bahir Dar, on the where ai is the fitting coefficient, and Eγ is the energy
west by Lake Tana, on the north by North Gondar, on the expressed in MeV.
northeast by Wag Hemra, on the east by North Wollo, By focussing attention on the energies emitted from
and on the southeast by South Wollo; the Abbay River the radionuclides of interest 214 Pb, 214 Bi, 228 Ac and 40 K
separates South Gondar from the two Gojjam zones [25]. efficiency versus density was fitted to an exponential decay
function, for each gamma-energy, in order to obtain an
2.2 Sampling techniques empirical relationship between both. This fitting function
is [8]:
The main cement stores are located in Debre Tabor (cap-
ital of South Gondar Zone), Nefas-Mewucha and Woreta a
1 − e−bρ


(ρ) = (2)
towns. Hence, it is impossible to get all types of cement ρ
in one town, we collected the samples from three distri-
bution areas to get representative cement types. In this where a, b are the fitting parameters and ρ is the sample’s
regard, for this study, thirty cement samples were taken density expressed in kg/m3 . The activity of 226 Ra was
from Dangote, Derba, and National Cement Factory sup- measured by the photo-peaks of 609.35 keV and 351.9321
pliers found in the study area. Approximately, 1 kg of keV from 214 Bi and 214 Pb radionuclides, respectively. The
cement sample was collected from the source using cement activity of 232 Th was determined through the photo-peak
bags in places where the required sample types are found of 238.632 keV, 583.187 keV and 911.204 keV emitted from
in the South Gondar (Fig. 1). its short-lived decay products of 212 Pb, 208 Tl and 228 Ac,
respectively, while the 40 K activity was directly measured
2.3 Sample preparation procedure for gamma-ray using 1460 keV peak of its gamma-ray energy [26,27].
spectrometry The choice detector has a high efficiency for typical sam-
ples, the high purity germanium detector is the Canberra
All the assembled cement samples have been sieved using Broad Energy Germanium (CBEGe) which exhibits lower
400 µm and were dried at a temperature of 100◦ C about background than typical coaxial detectors since it is more
 T. Abate: EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022) 3

transparent to high energy gamma from naturally occur- Table 1. The radioactivity concentrations of natural
ring radioisotopes such as 40 K and the Thorium series of radionuclides in cement samples in Bq kg−1 .
208
Tl [4]. The function of any detector is to convert radi-
226 232 40
ations’ energy into useful electrical signals which can be Factory Ra Th K
used, with suitable signal processing. 40 ± 6.78 101 ± 3.59 510 ± 19.13
The correct efficiency calibration requires the correct 50 ± 4.93 92 ± 1.92 515 ± 20.06
homogenization of the tracer in the cement, because a 36 ± 7.53 86 ± 0.80 515 ± 20.06
heterogeneous distribution would produce an imprecise 70 ± 1.21 101 ± 3.59 360 ± 8.73
efficiency determination, that, therefore, would affect neg- Dangote 65 ± 2.14 100 ± 3.40 499 ± 17.08
atively the activity values obtained for all the measured 98 ± 3.99 99 ± 3.22 480 ± 13.56
samples using such efficiency. Considering the crucial 97 ± 3.80 88 ± 1.18 420 ± 2.41
importance of this issue, the homogenization has been 46 ± 5.67 100 ± 3.40 410 ± 0.56
verified by measuring the prepared standard for several 98 ± 3.99 92 ± 1.92 490 ± 15.41
times and shaking the standard in a strongly way during 48 ± 5.30 94 ± 2.29 370 ± 6.87
10 min before performing each measurement. The stan- 90 ± 2.50 70 ± 2.17 326 ± 15.04
dard was measured a total of 13 times, being 2 h the 90 ± 2.50 76 ± 1.05 310 ± 18.01
acquisition time, in order to reduce the counting statistical 88 ± 2.13 74 ± 1.42 150 ± 47.72
uncertainty below 1% for all the gamma emissions. 84 ± 1.39 65 ± 3.10 160 ± 45.87
The detector was calibrated based on efficiency calibra- Derba 66 ± 2.91 64 ± 3.28 260 ± 27.30
tion with a reference geometry: density, volume, radionu- 78 ± 0.27 54 ± 5.14 290 ± 21.73
clides, summing corrections, and so on. The density, vol- 97 ± 3.80 30 ± 9.60 284 ± 22.84
ume and height of sample in the container have been the 98 ± 3.99 47 ± 6.44 289 ± 21.91
same as that of the standards (Marinelli beakers used for 50 ± 4.93 52 ± 5.51 270 ± 25.44
the standard mixed radionuclide and also for the samples) 62 ± 2.70 80 ± 0.66 130 ± 51.44
used for the calibration. 241 Am, 133 Ba, 60 Co and 152 Eu 58 ± 3.44 82 ± 0.06 484 ± 14.30
IAEA certified radioactive sources were used to determine 100 ± 4.36 88 ± 1.18 465 ± 10.77
the efficiency curves. as well the certified activity by IAEA 100 ± 4.36 86 ± 0.80 550 ± 26.55
on 01/01/1982 [28]. Generally, the efficiency calibration of 92 ± 2.87 79 ± 0.50 540 ± 24.70
the HPGe detector available at the Zentrum für Strahlen- National 93 ± 3.06 93 ± 2.10 550 ± 26.55
schutz und Radiooekologie (ZSR) Hannover University 93 ± 3.06 88 ± 1.18 520 ± 20.98
is presented. A detailed information of the standards is 91 ± 2.69 99 ± 3.22 535 ± 23.77
available at https:/www.eurostandard.cz/products.html. 89 ± 2.32 92 ± 1.92 506 ± 18.38
The quality assurance of the measurement was car- 95 ± 3.43 94 ± 2.29 500 ± 17.27
ried out periodical efficiency and energy calibration and 20 ± 10.50 98 ± 3.03 522 ± 21.36
repeated sample measurement. The counting time of each
sample was determined to be 36,000 seconds and repeated
twice to get the accepted gamma spectrum with spe-
cement samples from different sources collected from the
cial statistics. To find out the background distribution
districts found in South Gondar zone. The counted results
of radiation spectrum in the living environment around
of this investigation are given in Table 1 and the radio-
the detector, an empty container was measured in the
logical health indices for risk assessments are depicted in
same manner in the same geometry as we did for the sam-
Table 3.
ples. The net peak area of gamma rays for the measured
As could be stated in Table 1, the activity concen-
radioisotopes were corrected by using the background
trations of natural radionuclides of 226 Ra, 232 Th and
spectra [29]. 40
K ranges from 20 ± 10.50 to 100 ± 4.36, 30 ± 9.60 to
The radioactivity values of terrestrial environment
101 ± 3.59, and 130 ± 51.44 to 550 ± 26.55 Bq kg−1 ,
sources of radiations in the counted samples in Bk kg−1
respectively. All the calculated average concentrations are
were calculated using the relation [5,12]:
higher than the world’s written standard values in the
W naturally living environment of 35, 30, and 400 Bq kg−1 ,
B= (3) respectively [4]. The maximum values of 226 Ra were
P M t
observed in the samples which were taken from Derba
where W is the net counts of gamma-ray,  is the efficiency and National Cement Factories and a minimum value
of a detector, P is the absolute transition of gamma decay, was measured from Dangote Cement industry, while the
M is mass of a final prepared sample in kg, and t is a National Cement and Dangote Cement Factories have
counting time in international unit system. recorded the maximum, and Derba Cement Factory has
relatively lowest levels of 232 Th and 40 K. Moreover, it is
observed that there are different levels of concentrations
3 Results and discussions for the same type of cement. This may be happened due
to the composition of cement type.
The radioactivity levels of naturally occurring radioactive Some experimental values presented for reported data
materials of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K were evaluated for 30 of other countries are given for comparison in Table 2.
4 T. Abate: EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022)

Table 2. Comparison of mean activity concentrations in radiation arising from construction equipment such as
Bqkg−1 with studied results in cement samples from some outdoor and indoor hazard indices and gamma radia-
selected countries. tion indices has been investigated by several investigators
[33–39]. For this study, the gamma index (Iγ ) was com-
Countries 226
Ra 232
Th 40
K References puted using the relation recommended by the European
Commission and used by [7,32]
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 21.7 9.8 101.6 [1]
Turkey 52 40 324 [5] BRa BT h BK
India (2020) 54.59 45.64 1890.28 [15] Iγ = −1
+ −1
+ (5)
India (2016) 35.8 33.2 199.1 [20] 300 Bq kg 200 Bq kg 3000 Bq kg −1
Tamilnadu, India 35.73 37.75 159.83 [21]
where BRa , BT h and BK are the activity concentrations
Turkey 25 21 2493 [30]
of radium–226, Thorium–232 and potassium–40, respec-
China 119 36 444 [17]
tively and 300, 200 and 3000 are given in Bq kg−1 . The
Greece 111 19 244 [31]
values of Iγ evaluated from the calculated activity concen-
Turkey (2017) 33.0 16.7 239.5 [34]
tration of radium–226, Thorium–232 and potassium–40
Iraq 31.29 15.97 168.24 [35]
are presented in Table 3 for different cement types. The
Slovak Republic 11.8 18.4 156.5 [41]
values of Iγ for the studied samples varied in the range
Amhara, Ethiopia 76.53 81.67 407 This study
between 1.053 ± 0.1 to 1.963 ± 0.1 for type of cements
which were greater the critical value of unity.
At this particular time, several alpha indices have been
In this situation, the 226 Ra mean activity concentration recommended to assess the exposure amount due to radon
for cement samples was higher than the concentration for inhalation originating from construction materials [7]. The
Riyadh–Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India (2020), India (2016), alpha index, therefore, was calculated by the following
Tamilnadu India, Iraq and Slovak Republic, while less relationship
than the concentrations for China and Greece. All the
observed values were less than for 232 Th activity con- BRa
centrations which investigated in this study. The mean Iα = (6)
200 Bq kg −1
activity concentration value of 40 K was 407 Bq kg−1 . This
value was lower than for India, Turkey (2493 Bq kg−1 ),
and China, and higher than for all other studies in the where BRa is the activity value of radium–226 in Bq kg−1
table of comparison. that assumed in equilibrium with uranium–238. The pro-
According to our results, the distribution of 226 Ra, posed widely used in all walks of life for lower and upper
232
Th and 40 K in cements were not constant for all level of radium–226 activity concentrations in construc-
samples. The reason why is because the raw materials tion equipment are 100 and 200 Bq kg−1 , respectively,
which are used by the factories have been taken from as suggested by ICRP [40]. When the materials are used
different geological places and material types. The non- for construct the dwellings or towers, the concentrations
homogeneous which occurs within exposure to radiation of 226 Ra never exceeded from the higher recommended
could be defined due to the variety values of radium value of 200 Bq kg−1 for which Iα will have a value equal
equivalent activity (Raeq ) in Bq kg−1 that was generated to unity or greater than 1. While exceeding values results
from the specific activity of materials containing different that enough radon could exhalate from these materials
amounts of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K [5]. The radium equiv- which may cause indoor radon value that will exceeded
alent activity estimated through the following relation 200 Bq m−3 too. In other words, if 226 Ra has the con-
[4,5] centration less than 200 Bq kg−1 , then it resulting indoor
radon level which is less than 200 Bq m−3 . Thus, such
Raeq = BRa + 1.43BTh + 0.077BK (4) considerations determined the Iα index values which could
be less than or greater than unity. For the studied cement
where BRa , BTh and BK are the activity concentrations samples, Iα index values are given in Table 3 for the var-
of radium–226, thorium–232 and potassium–40 in Bq ious types of cement. The estimated concentrations of Iα
kg−1 , respectively. The mean Raeq values are tabulated for this investigation, ranged from 0.10 to 0.50, with the
in Table 3 for the different cement types where they were average of 0.38. Accordingly, our result shows the mean
collected. The minimum value (151.65 ± 13.43 Bq kg−1 ) value calculated for Iα index was exactly less than unity.
was measured for the samples that were taken from Mainly, of course, the buildings will cause excessive
Dangote Cement Facory, while the maximum (276.53 ± radiation exposures to the human body due to gamma
9.67 Bq kg−1 ) value of Raeq was found in Derba and rays released by lead–214 and bismuth–214 which are
National Cement Factories cement types, respectively. In progeny of radium–226 and thorium–232 decay chains,
general, the average values of Raeq for the studied cement respectively and the contribution of 40 K to the human
samples were lower than the limit value of 370 Bq kg−1 body radiation dose is also considered. The intake dose
recommended by Organization for Economic Cooperation rate in indoor air due to gamma-ray released from
and Development [32]. radioactivity levels of radium–226 and thorium-232 and
The terrestrial environmental radiation sources of potassium-40 was computed using the following formula
indices dealing with the assessment of the excess gamma by applying the factors of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in
 T. Abate: EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022) 5

Table 3. Radiological health indices parameters values for different cement types.

S. Code Raeq Iγ Iα D (nGyh−1 ) AED (mSvy −1 ) Hin (Bqkg −1 )

151.65 ± 13.43 1.067 ± 0.1 0.200 ± 0.03 68.21 ± 4.500 0.3346 0.5177 ± 0.06
193.88 ± 5.59 1.053 ± 0.1 0.250 ± 0.03 86.90 ± 1.190 0.4263 0.6587 ± 0.03
179.77 ± 8.21 1.280 ± 0.1 0.180 ± 0.04 81.30 ± 2.110 0.3988 0.5828 ± 0.04
164.93 ± 10.96 1.177 ± 0.1 0.350 ± 0.01 76.54 ± 2.980 0.3755 0.6347 ± 0.03
Dangote 218.01 ± 1.11 1.520 ± 0.01 0.325 ± 0.01 97.55 ± 0.860 0.4786 0.7645 ± 0.01
276.53 ± 9.76 1.963 ± 0.1 0.490 ± 0.02 126.77 ± 6.19 0.6219 1.0118 ± 0.04
255.18 ± 5.80 1.807 ± 0.04 0.485 ± 0.01 116.98 ± 4.40 0.5738 0.9514 ± 0.03
171.47 ± 9.75 1.220 ± 0.1 0.325 ± 0.02 80.54 ± 2.251 0.3951 0.7254 ± 0.02
267.29 ± 8.04 1.900 ± 0.1 0.490 ± 0.02 122.84 ± 5.47 0.6026 0.9868 ± 0.03
260.91 ± 6.86 1.840 ± 0.1 0.485 ± 0.02 119.08 ± 4.79 0.5842 0.9696 ± 0.03
232.36 ± 1.56 1.637 ± 0.01 0.450 ± 0.02 106.10 ± 2.42 0.5205 0.8709 ± 0.01
222.55 ± 0.26 1.567 ± 0.004 0.450 ± 0.02 101.70 ± 1.61 0.4989 0.8444 ± 0.01
233.09 ± 1.69 1.667 ± 0.01 0.440 ± 0.02 107.88 ± 2.74 0.5292 0.8674 ± 0.01
216.60 ± 1.37 1.553 ± 0.01 0.420 ± 0.01 100.65 ± 1.41 0.4937 0.8121 ± 0.00
Derba 213.10 ± 2.02 1.5330 ± 0.01 0.400 ± 0.01 99.22 ± 1.160 0.4867 0.7918 ± 0.004
246.19 ± 4.23 1.767 ± 0.03 0.390 ± 0.01 113.62 ± 3.79 0.5574 0.8757 ± 0.01
229.04 ± 0.94 1.653 ± 0.01 0.230 ± 0.003 105.04 ± 2.22 0.5153 0.7429 ± 0.01
233.62 ± 1.79 1.687 ± 0.02 0.240 ± 0.001 107.21 ± 2.62 0.5259 0.7606 ± 0.01
231.22 ± 1.35 1.667 ± 0.02 0.250 ± 0.03 106.06 ± 2.41 0.5203 0.7596 ± 0.01
233.41 ± 1.75 1.676 ± 0.02 0.310 ± 0.03 107.21 ± 2.62 0.5259 0.7979 ± 0.003
239.70 ± 2.92 1.719 ± 0.02 0.290 ± 0.03 109.70 ± 3.07 0.5381 0.8041 ± 0.002
238.19 ± 2.64 1.857 ± 0.1 0.500 ± 0.02 120.24 ± 5.00 0.5898 0.9770 ± 0.03
268.19 ± 8.21 1.893 ± 0.1 0.500 ± 0.02 122.54 ± 5.42 0.6011 0.9864 ± 0.03
224.99 ± 0.19 1.577 ± 0.002 0.460 ± 0.02 102.41 ± .174 0.5024 0.8564 ± 0.01
National 209.71 ± 2.65 1.473 ± 0.02 0.465 ± 0.02 96.05 ± 0.580 0.4712 0.8178 ± 0.001
192.09 ± 5.92 1.349 ± 0.04 0.465 ± 0.02 88.34 ± 0.830 0.4334 0.7702 ± 0.01
187.61 ± 6.75 1.319 ± 0.1 0.455 ± 0.02 86.39 ± 1.184 0.4238 0.7527 ± 0.01
259.52 ± 6.60 1.851 ± 0.1 0.445 ± 0.01 119.35 ± 4.84 0.5855 0.9415 ± 0.02
267.92 ± 8.16 1.907 ± 0.1 0.475 ± 0.01 123.11 ± 5.52 0.6040 0.9402 ± 0.02
200.33 ± 4.39 1.461 ± 0.02 0.100 ± 0.1 91.87 ± 0.183 0.4507 0.5950 ± 0.04

dwellings of 0.462, 0.621, and 0.0417, respectively [4]. calculated by the following formula:

D = 0.462CRa + 0.621CT h + 0.0417CK . (7) AED = D × 8760 hy −1 × 0.7 × 0.8 × 10−6 . (8)
The measured values of annual effective dose for the
The factors listed above were used to estimate the overall
selected cement samples were ranged from 0.3346 to
received dose in air at 1 m to the top from the ground
0.6219 mSvy−1 , with an average value of 0.5055 mSvy−1 .
level as recommended by UNSCEAR [8].
The corresponding annual effective dose rate from all
It may also be seen that, the inhaled dose in indoor air
samples were below the dose criterion of 1 mSv y−1 .
computed from the computed activities in different cement
The external and internal living environment must qual-
samples are shown in Table 3 (column 5). The calculated
ify for healthy family. In order to keep the safety of the
absorbed dose rate for the case of indoor air was found
human health from the impact from radon and its progeny
to vary from 68.21 ± 4.50 to 126.77 ± 6.19 nGyh−1 with
which may give rise to indoor radiation exposure, indoor
a mean of 103.05 ± 2.87 nGyh−1 . It was compared that
hazard index (Hin ) was evaluated by using the formula
the mean value was higher than the world average recom-
stated by [41].
mended value of 84 nGyh−1 . Results tabulated in Table 3
show that the minimum and the maximum absorbed dose BRa BT h BK
rates in air were delivered by cement samples which have Hin = + + ≤ 1. (9)
185 259 4810
basically higher activity concentrations of radium and tho-
rium, respectively. To evaluate the annual effective dose, The values of Hin gained are depicted in columns 7 in
it must be taken into account that: (a) the conversion Table 3. The values are ranged from 0.5177 ± 0.06 to
coefficient (0.7 Sv Gy−1 ) from absorbed dose in air to 1.0118 ± 0.04 with the mean of 0.8122 ± 0.02 which are
effective dose and (b) the indoor occupancy factor is 80% slightly less than unity as required were obtained for Hin
for population specially for mothers and children [8,32]. from all samples except the maximum of 1.0118 ± 0.04.
Therefore, the effective dose rate in mSv y−1 unit was The external values of Hex were also less than unity
6 T. Abate: EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022)

according to the contents generated using the equation Data availability statement
(10) [41].
We acknowledge that the data we use to support this
BRa BT h BK research can be obtained from the corresponding author
Hex = + + < 1. (10)
370 259 4810 at any time with reasonable request.

4 Conclusions References
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Cite this article as: Tadesse Abate. Radioactivity and health risk assessments in cement samples commonly used as
construction materials in the case of South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia, EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 8, 13 (2022)