Abstract

<p>Assessment of natural radionuclides in sea water and associated health risks have been done using NaI (TI) detector as a stable and reliable device for analysis of radionuclides. The result of activity concentration of radionuclides (40K, 238U and 232Th) in sea water showed that 40K has the highest value 180.40 Bql-1. The lowest value was recorded by 232Th due to its low solubility in water. The percentage mean activity concentration of radionuclides in sea water are; 85%, 11% and 4% for 40K, 238U and 232Th respectively. The absorbed dose range between 0.473 nGyh-1 to 16.727 Gyh-1. The comparison of the results with world standard showed that the calculated absorbed dose, annual effective dose for different age categories and excess lifetime cancer risk value of the identified radionuclides are within the world recommended safe value. However, the annual effective dose of different age categories showed that the annual effective dose of infants is higher than the value in children, while the adults recorded the lowest value. Therefore, the study concluded that though, the environment has been impacted radio logically, but there are no immediate identified radiation health risks as a result of radionuclide activity concentration in sea water of the study area.</p>