Abstract
This study determined the activity concentrations and corresponding transfer factors (TF) of 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th in three tobacco components (root, stem, and leaf). The radiation hazard index parameters were assessed for the tobacco leaf. The activity concentrations in the soil were 589–762, 32–43, and 49–59 Bq kg-dw−1 (dry weight) for 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th, respectively. The average activity concentrations of 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th were 447, 5.41 and 5.69 Bq/kg-dw for the root, 670, 9.64 and 7.61 Bq kg-dw−1 for the stem, and 793, 6.79 and 6.15 Bq kg-dw−1 for the leaf, respectively. The TF values were 0.42–1.42, 0.10–0.49 and 0.06–0.23 for 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th, respectively. The stem and leaf 40K TF values were significantly higher than the root values. The stem 226Ra TF values were significantly higher than the root values. The 226Ra and 232Th activity concentrations and TFs of tobacco components had a significant positive correlation. Based on the activity concentrations of the tobacco leaves, the annual inhalation effective dose to the lungs for an adult smoker was 0.32–0.81 mSv y−1 (average 0.60 mSv y−1). The Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) caused by smoking was an average of 2.39 × 10−3.
Authors’ contributions
Conceptualization, Y-L Yeh; methodology, W-H Huang and C-M Huang; formal analysis, W-S Huang, C-M Huang, C-C Lin, and Y-Y Liu; data curation, W-H Huang; writing—original draft preparation, review and editing, Y-L Yeh, W-H Huang, and T-C Chen.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data availability
Data share upon reasonable request.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.