Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 18 No 1 (2014): 185 – 194

 

 

 

DETERMINATION OF SUPPORTED ²²²Rn ACTIVITY

CONCENTRATION IN GROUND WATER FROM

CAMERON HIGHLANDS AREA USING GAMMA SPECTROMETRY

 

(Penentuan Kepekatan Aktiviti ²²²Rn Sokongan di dalam Air Tanih dari Kawasan Cameron Highlands Menggunakan Spektrometri Gama)

 

Ahmad Saat^1,2, Nor Shazlina Zainal¹*, Zaini Hamzah¹ and Abdul Khalik Wood¹

 

¹Faculty of Applied Sciences,

Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

²International Education College (INTEC),

UiTM Kampus Seksyen 17, 40200 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: elinshazlinazainal89@gmail.com

 

 

Abstract

Humans may be exposed to the emission of energetic alpha particle from supported radon decaying process in ground water when it is consumed. Cameron Highland’s water supply was chosen as study area since it coming from hilly area of Gunung Pass, Gunung Brinchang and Gunung Cantik whose geological formations made from mainly igneous rocks (intrusive rocks, mainly granite with minor granodiorite) that flows into Sungai Terla, Sungai Ulu Bertam and Sungai Jasar. Determination of supported radon in this ground water was carried out using eighteen ground water samples collected from Cameron Highlands. Water samples (filtered and unfiltered) were poured into Marinelli beaker and closed tightly. These samples were kept at least for three weeks to allow the equilibrium between ²²⁶Ra and ²²²Rn. The measurement was accomplished by measuring water samples using low background gamma spectrometry (ORTEC) using a hyper pure coaxial germanium detector linked to a multi-channel digital analyzer system. ²²²Rn was measured at its daughter’s photo peaks: ²¹⁴Pb (352 keV) and ²¹⁴Bi (609 keV). Results of the study show the supported ²²²Rn activity concentration ranges from 0.19 to 0.66 Bq/L for unfiltered, filtered and untreated samples, 0.32 to 0.39 Bq/L of ²²²Rn for treated water at water treatment plant and 0.26 to 0.55 Bq/L of ²²²Rn for domestic water. These values are lower than the activity concentration of radon in drinking water as proposed by USEPA (11 Bq/L).

 

Keywords: Ground water, supported radon, natural radioactivity, gamma spectrometry

 

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