International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Hyper Pure Germanium (HPGe) radiation detector was used to estimate the activity concentration of fifteen soil and palm oil samples collected from the oil palm plantations in the southwestern, southeastern, and south southern states of Nigeria, and the risk assessments was evaluated. The activity concentrations at a soil depth 0 – 15 cm ranged from 187.4 to 514.4, 2.328 to 6.571, and 1.509 to 6.121 Bq/kg for ⁴⁰K, ²³⁸U, and ²³²Th, respectively. The activity concentrations at a soil depth 15 – 30 cm ranged from 163.4 to 3188.8, 1.345 to 9.410, and 1.476 to 6.275 Bq/kg for ⁴⁰K, ²³⁸U, and ²³²Th, respectively. The activity concentrations in the palm oil ranged from 122.3 to 968.0, 1.240 to 6.651, and 1.199 to 8.061 Bq/L for ⁴⁰K, ²³⁸U, and ²³²Th. For the risk assessments of surface soil samples, the absorbed dose rate (D) ranged from 5.09 to 24.54 nGy/h, while the annual effective dose equivalent (E) ranged from 0.612 × 10^-2 to 16.49 × 10^-2 mSv/y. The radium equivalent, gamma absorbed dose rate, and the annual effective dose rate in the palm oil samples ranged from 9.981 to 88.00 Bq/L, 4.315 to 46.29 nGy/h, and 0.53 × 10^-2 to 56.90 x 10^-2 mSv/y, respectively. The activity concentrations reported for soil and palm oil samples were lower than the recommended world average values given by UNSCEAR. Hence, the hazard and risk assessments indicated a low radiation risk within the studied areas.

Index Terms—Activity concentration, oil palm plantations, pressed -palm fruit oil, risk assessment indices.

O. B. Olafisoye is with the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa (e-mail: olafisoyeob@gmail.com).
O. O. Oguntibeju is with Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellness, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa (e-mail: oguntibejuo@cput.ac.za).
O. A Osibote is with the Department of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa (corresponding author; e-mail: osibotea@cput.ac.za).

[PDF]

Cite: O. B. Olafisoye , O. O. Oguntibeju, and O. A. Osibote, "Assessment of Naturally Occurring Radionuclides Accumulation in Palm Oil from Soil," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 8-15, 2022.

Copyright © 2022 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).