Annual Effective Dose Due to Background Gamma Radiation in Buni Gari, Yobe State

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to assess the levels of gamma radiation both outdoors and indoors in Buni Gari, Yobe State. Our goal was to determine the annual effective dose associated with gamma radiation and to investigate whether the presence of active quarrying companies around the town has had any notable impact on the background radiation levels. Geiger Muller (G. M) detector known as X5C plus, was used to carry out the measurement. To ensure the accuracy of our readings, the G.M detector was positioned one meter above ground level to minimize ground-related effects. During outdoor measurements, we maintained a distance of at least six meters from nearby building walls to avoid any interference from the building materials. Our findings indicated that the average gamma dose rates for outdoor and indoor measurements were 55.8 ± 8.2 nSv/h and 62 ± 6.4 nSv/h, respectively. We calculated the average annual effective dose resulting from background gamma radiation to be 0.372 mSv, which was found to be lower than the global average value of 0.48 mSv. In conclusion, the average annual effective dose from background gamma radiation in Buni Gari was below the global average. When we compared our results with a previous study conducted in 2019 to determine the effective dose of environmental gamma radiation in the same town, we found that the presence of quarrying activities around the town over four years did not significantly change the annual effective dose of Buni Gari