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Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2012, 2(4): 223-233
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Article

Levels and potential effect of radon gas in groundwater of some communities in the Kassena Nankana district of the Upper East region of Ghana

A.B. Asumadu-Sakyi , O.C. Oppon , F.K. Quashie , C.A. Adjei , E. Akortia , I. Nsiah-Akoto , Kwame Appiah
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, P.O.Box LG 80, Legon-Accra, Ghana

Received 5 February 2012;Accepted 14 March 2012;Published online 1 December 2012
IAEES

Abstract
Levels of radon gas in groundwater should be of interest due to its variation and exposure to the public since it is now patronized due to unusual interruption of surface water supplies. Dissolved Rn-222 in sampled groundwater has been analyzed using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) Detector and Nuclear Track Detector (N.T.D) techniques at the Kassena Nankana District in the Upper East region of Ghana. The radon concentrations obtained ranges from 7.86 *10-6 to 8.18 *10-5 Bq/l with a mean of 4.38 *10-5 Bq/l using the Gamma Spectrometry (G.S) whiles that of N.T.D ranged from 5.40 to 46.74 Bq/l with a mean of 19.54 Bq/l. In terms of Bq/m3, the concentrations ranged from 1.2 *10-2 to 8.1 *10-2 with a mean of 3.67 *10-2 and 200.00 ¡À0.23 to 1731.00 ¡À1.73 with a mean of 723.7 Bq/m3. The estimated annual effective dose by inhalation ranged from 6.05 to 40.66 mSvy-1 with a mean value of 21.91 mSvy-1 using N.T.D, whiles that of G.S ranged from 1.39 *10-4 to 2.45 *10-3 mSvy-1 with a mean value of 1.14 *10-3 mSvy-1. Also the estimated annual effective dose by ingestion ranged from 1.71*10-5 - 1.32 *10-4 uSvy-1 with a mean value of 5.60 *10-5 uSvy-1 obtained using N.T.D technique. G.S ranged from 2.87 *10-11 to 2.99 *10-10 uSvy-1 with a mean value of 1.60 *10-10 uSvy-1 respectively. The concentrations delineate that inhabitant need to be advised on levels of 222Rn in water.

Keywords radon gas;groundwater;track etch detector (LR-115 II);gamma spectrometry;Ghana.



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