Evaluation of the natural radioactivity in food and soil around uranium mining region

To evaluate the radiological risk to human health associated with the ingestion of radionuclides in foods, some different plant foods cultivated in the mining area were collected and analyzed. Results showed that local foods contained higher 210Pb (8.1–150 Bq/kg) and 228Ra (0.3–4.2 Bq/kg) than the worldwide reference values. The annual committed effective doses to children (3.1 mSv/y) and adult (1.3 mSv/y) from the ingestion of local foods might exceed the recommended reference level of 1 mSv/y. Further, the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in soil and soil-to-plant concentration ratio are also discussed.