Mapeamento da radioatividade natural nos ambientes externos do CDTN

Abstract

Natural radiation occurs due to two main contributors: high-energy cosmic ray particles in the Earth's atmosphere and radionuclides that have been present in the Earth's crust since its formation. For most people, these natural exposures are much more significant than those caused by artificial sources. The most significant primary radionuclides are related to the elements thorium (Th) and uranium (U) and potassium. This work aims to map and analyze natural radioactivity in outdoor environments at the Nuclear Technology Development Center (CDTN) in order to observe the variation of radioactivity in this location. It is important to emphasize that, as it is an area of a nuclear research center, some points have indicated significant values of radiation when compared to natural ones, being these high values coming from artificial sources, for example, radioactive waste. This study was carried out with the RS-230 spectrometer, Radiation Solutions / CANADA, coupled with a Global Positioning System (GPS), which identifies quantitatively and qualitatively environmental radionuclides, such as 40K, 238U and 232Th. The results were exported to the ArcGis® program where a geospatial analysis was performed to correlate the RS-230 data with the coordinates obtained from the GPS, according to the values the results were classified into five classes -very low, low, medium, high and very high. Besides understanding the natural radioactivity in the CDTN, the work is seeking to provide a basis of information for future applications in other similar environments, that is, environments that present a possible combination of natural and artificial radioactivity.