Assessment of a naturally occurring high background radiation area with elevated levels of thorium along coastal Odisha, India using radiometric methods.

The present study evaluates the enrichment and distribution of radioelements along the eastern coast of India. India possesses the second largest reserve of thorium bearing monazite in the world, in terms of heavy minerals present primarily along its long coastline. Radioelement estimation of about 30 km long beach area along the eastern coast of India is reported and implications discussed. A total number of 822 data points were studied using a portable Geiger Muller counter, to estimate the variation of dose rates, due to the ambient radionuclides along two different trends. One was parallel (northeast-southwest) and the second one perpendicular to the coastline. Pre-selected samples from in-situ radiometric surveys on the heavy mineral placers were studied further, for quantitative estimation of the abundance of radioactive elements primarily uranium and thorium, using a High Purity Germanium detector. Radioelement concentration assessment of core samples (depth ~2 m), were studied from two different beaches. Radiological parameters like radium equivalent, annual effective doserate and absorbed dose rate has been calculated based on the

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