Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains

This study evaluated the integrity of the geosphere of the Accra Plains to host a radioactive waste disposal facility for Ghana’s radioactive waste materials. The study thus assessed the migration of radioactive contaminant from a hypothetical radioactive waste disposal facility through the geosphe...

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Main Authors: Paul Essel, Mark Amo-Boateng, Dominic Otoo, Thomas Tetteh Akiti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Environmental Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University 2022-01-01
Series:Applied Environmental Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ph01.tci-thaijo.org/jer/index.php/aer/article/view/247413
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author Paul Essel
Mark Amo-Boateng
Dominic Otoo
Thomas Tetteh Akiti
author_facet Paul Essel
Mark Amo-Boateng
Dominic Otoo
Thomas Tetteh Akiti
author_sort Paul Essel
collection DOAJ
description This study evaluated the integrity of the geosphere of the Accra Plains to host a radioactive waste disposal facility for Ghana’s radioactive waste materials. The study thus assessed the migration of radioactive contaminant from a hypothetical radioactive waste disposal facility through the geosphere to the biosphere in the Accra Plains. The Accra Plains is predominantly underlain by schist rocks, hence the hydrogeologic parameters of schist rock from literature were used as input data. AMBER software was used to develop a model to estimate the peak total annual effective dose from all the radionuclides at various receptor locations. The endpoint of interest was the dose received by a receptor for ingesting water from an abstraction well located at distance; 100 m, 200 m, 500 m, 1 km, 2 km, 3 km, 4 km and 5 km from the hypothetical repository. From the simulation, the annual effective dose values ranged from 2.07E-25 Sv/y to 6.45E-17 Sv/y which are all below the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) dose constraint of 0.3 mSv/y. The lifetime cancer risk for ingesting water from the abstraction wells were then calculated from the annual effective dose values. The resulting values ranged from 1.06E-24 to 3.30E-16 thus indicating that the potential cancer risk for ingesting water from the abstraction wells located within 100 m to 5 km from the hypothetical disposal facility is negligible. The model results demonstrate that, siting a disposal facility in the study area might not pose any significant risk to the sprawling population and the environment.
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spelling doaj.art-58f724772054437c96508f4bc9cda7422024-02-26T10:49:32ZengEnvironmental Research Institute, Chulalongkorn UniversityApplied Environmental Research2287-075X2022-01-0144110.35762/AER.2021.44.1.1Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra PlainsPaul Essel0Mark Amo-Boateng1Dominic Otoo2Thomas Tetteh Akiti3Radiation Protection Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Accra, GhanaUniversity of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, GhanaUniversity of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, GhanaGraduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Atomic Campus, Ghana This study evaluated the integrity of the geosphere of the Accra Plains to host a radioactive waste disposal facility for Ghana’s radioactive waste materials. The study thus assessed the migration of radioactive contaminant from a hypothetical radioactive waste disposal facility through the geosphere to the biosphere in the Accra Plains. The Accra Plains is predominantly underlain by schist rocks, hence the hydrogeologic parameters of schist rock from literature were used as input data. AMBER software was used to develop a model to estimate the peak total annual effective dose from all the radionuclides at various receptor locations. The endpoint of interest was the dose received by a receptor for ingesting water from an abstraction well located at distance; 100 m, 200 m, 500 m, 1 km, 2 km, 3 km, 4 km and 5 km from the hypothetical repository. From the simulation, the annual effective dose values ranged from 2.07E-25 Sv/y to 6.45E-17 Sv/y which are all below the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) dose constraint of 0.3 mSv/y. The lifetime cancer risk for ingesting water from the abstraction wells were then calculated from the annual effective dose values. The resulting values ranged from 1.06E-24 to 3.30E-16 thus indicating that the potential cancer risk for ingesting water from the abstraction wells located within 100 m to 5 km from the hypothetical disposal facility is negligible. The model results demonstrate that, siting a disposal facility in the study area might not pose any significant risk to the sprawling population and the environment. https://ph01.tci-thaijo.org/jer/index.php/aer/article/view/247413Lifetime cancer riskAnnual effective doseAccra PlainsDisposal facility
spellingShingle Paul Essel
Mark Amo-Boateng
Dominic Otoo
Thomas Tetteh Akiti
Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains
Applied Environmental Research
Lifetime cancer risk
Annual effective dose
Accra Plains
Disposal facility
title Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains
title_full Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains
title_fullStr Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains
title_full_unstemmed Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains
title_short Modelling of Radiological Health Risk in Water from Abstraction Well Close to a Hypothetical Radioactive Waste Repository in the Accra Plains
title_sort modelling of radiological health risk in water from abstraction well close to a hypothetical radioactive waste repository in the accra plains
topic Lifetime cancer risk
Annual effective dose
Accra Plains
Disposal facility
url https://ph01.tci-thaijo.org/jer/index.php/aer/article/view/247413
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