Levels of natural radioactivity in mineral and thermal waters of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Abstract With gamma spectrometric method 23 samples of mineral and thermal waters of Bosnia and Herzegovina were analyzed. Activity concentrations of the investigated radionuclides were in the range 12–346 mBq·L −1 for 40 K, 1.1–791 mBq·L −1 for 226 Ra, 0.2–221 mBq·L −1 for 228 Ra, 13–367 mBq·L −1 for 238 U, and 0.6–17 mBq·L −1 for 235 U. For all investigated radionuclides annual effective dose was estimated. The estimated total annual committed effective dose received by population as a result of ingestion of water was in the range 0.11–2.51 μSv·y −1 for thermal water and in the range 0.11–38.8 μSv·y −1 for mineral water. Measurement of activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in the examined samples was carried out with a gamma-spectrometer with high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, having a relative efficiency of 70%.