Review Article

Natural radioactivity measurement of gold mine tailings in Vatukoula, Fiji Islands

¹ Department Meteorology & Environmental Science, College of Applied Sciences, Fiji National University, PO Box 5529, Lautoka, Fiji
² Department of Physics, School of Pure Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Technology, Fiji National University, PO Box 5529, Lautoka, Fiji

^* e-mail: Abdul.Malik@fnu.ac.fj

Received: 22 May 2020
Accepted: 13 June 2020

Abstract

Gold mining is one of the primary industry in Fiji, and it could expose the naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) that may produce health risk to the people working in mining. The present study focuses on the assessment of soil samples in the vicinity of gold mining to assess the concentration of these nuclides. The average activity concentrations of Uranium (²³⁸U), Thorium (²³²Th) and Potassium (⁴⁰K) in the soil samples from the gold mining area in Vatukoula, Fiji were computed using NaI(Tl) detector. The activity concentrations varied from 30.7 Bq kg^−⁡1 and 175.73 Bq kg^−⁡1 for ²³⁸U and ⁴⁰K with the absence of ²³²Th in the decommissioned site. 19.49 Bq kg^−⁡1,  123.06 Bq kg^−⁡1 and 86.86 Bq kg^−⁡1 was determined for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K of the commissioned sites respectively which is less than the world averages according to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation report [1], except for ²³²Th which is expected to be higher due to the mineral composition of monazite derivatives. Our preliminary results on the activity of these radioactive nuclides demonstrate that the mining activities at Vatukoula poses no significant radionuclide hazard to the miners and the general public.