RADIATION MAPPING OF ,

SOUTHWESTERN

BY

OLATUNJI, ADEMOLA SUNDAY

PHY/13/6011

A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS SUBMITTED TO THE

SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF

TECHNOLOGY, AKURE, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD

OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY (M.TECH) IN

PHYSICS (RADIATION AND HEALTH PHYSICS OPTION).

MAY, 2016.

ABSTRACT

Exposure of human beings to radiation cannot be measured or quantified by human senses. These radiations differ in their hardness and ability to penetrate materials. The implications of radiation on human body include biological, acute, generic and somatic effects. The studies comprehensively determine ambient ionizing radiation and also took inventory of the spatial distribution of ambient ionizing radiation in Oyo State. Exposure rate was measured at 1m above the ground level with the use of a Geiger-Müller-counter, at positions measured by Global

Positioning System (GPS). About one hundred and twenty (120) towns and villages were visited taking from three to five towns in each of the thirty-three local government areas of the state. The collected data was super-imposed on a digital map of Oyo State to produce the isodose map, elevation map, and the mean dose map to identify areas of elevated risks of ambient ionizing radiation in the study using ARCGISTM & SURFERTM software.

Results indicate that areas like and West, , , and local governments had higher exposure rate with dose range of 0.34-0.38 µSv/hr while areas like

Oluyole, Iddo, , , Lagelu, , and West local governments and all the local governments in axes had lower exposure rate with dose range of 0.12-0.20 µSv/hr.

People living in areas identified with high background radiation levels in this study should therefore be made aware of the potential radiation related health problems, while government should also do more to stop the common practice of using mine wastes for foundation fillings and block construction because of the radiological i

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Radiation has always been a part of our natural environment. We live in a world in which radiation is naturally present everywhere. Natural radioactive sources in the soil, water and air contribute to our exposure to ionizing radiation. Most of the forms of radiation have the potential for both beneficial and harmful effects. Even sunlight, the most essential radiation of all, can be harmful in excessive amounts. Humans are exposed to many sources of radiation in the environment of which natural sources are the most important ones (Ali et al, 2009), also radioactive materials are part of our environment.

The radiation in the environment comes from both cosmic radiation that originates in outer space, and from radioactive materials that occur naturally in the earth and in our bodies. Together, these are known as background radiation. Everyone is exposed to background radiation daily. In addition, radiation and radioactive materials are produced by many human activities. Radiation is produced by x-ray equipment and by particle accelerators used in research and medicine.

Radioactive materials are produced in nuclear reactors and particle accelerators (Prakash et al,

2011, Asere and Ajayi, 2015).

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Full text of this document can be accessed by visiting the

Post Graduate Research Unit of Albert Ilemobade

Library, FUTA or contact the Reference Librarian via [email protected]

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