Assessment of TENORM and potential radiological hazards from the main brand glazed tiles produced in China with statistical analysis

ABSTRACT

The activity concentrations of TENORM including ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K of the ten main brands of glazed tiles produced in China and their radiological hazard parameters such radium equivalent radioactivity, alpha index, external exposure index, absorbed dose rate in air indoors, indoors annual effective dose, and activity concentration index are measured and estimated. The activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K in glazed tile samples are within the international tile reference values for ²²⁶Ra (30–200 Bq·kg⁻¹), ²³²Th (20–200 Bq·kg⁻¹) and ⁴⁰K (160–1410 Bq·kg⁻¹). The estimated mean values of radiological hazard parameters such as radium equivalent radioactivity, alpha index, external exposure index, indoors annual effective dose, and activity concentration index are also found to be below the international recommended limits or referenced values. The mean value of the absorbed dose rate in air indoors is within the country average range of 20–190 nGy·h⁻¹. Moreover, combined with statistical analysis, it is concluded that the activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th in glazed tile samples have a strong correlation with the calculated radiological parameters, which has a significant impact on radioactivity in glazed tiles. Finally, it can be concluded that the ten brands of glazed tiles used in decoration of building materials are identified as grade A, which are unlikely to have a significant radiological hazard to the public. Therefore, the production, marketing and use scope of glazed tiles should be not restricted, but the early monitoring and classification should be done.

KEYWORDS:

• TENORM
• radiological hazard
• glazed tile
• statistical analysis

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Urumqi Customs Technology Center, China for providing facilities and support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Project No. 11975177 and 11575149], the scientific research projects of Colleges and Universities of the department of education of Xinjiang, China [Project No. XJEDU2018SY026] and the social and economic statistics research center project of Xinjiang. China [Project No. XJEDU050313C04].