Authors : Mykhailo Buzynnyi, Roman Prihod’ko, Liubov Mykhailova
DOI : 10.1038/s41598-025-21813-w
Volume : 15
Issue : 1
Year : 2025
Page No : 1-11
The article reviews recent research and data analysis on natural radioactivity in 49 artesian drinking water samples from private sources in Zhytomyr city and its suburbs. The measurements support the installation of modern water purification systems, especially to lower natural radionuclides. A liquid scintillation spectrometer and an HPG γ-spectrometer were used to measure activity concentrations of 222Rn, total uranium, 226Ra, and 228Ra isotopes. LSC-based methods were employed to measure 222Rn and 226Ra in a two-phase sample; uranium was extracted using a 20% solution of TBP in o-xylene to determine activity concentration via LSC. Recently developed simple procedures have been used to concentrate water radioactivity with ion-exchange resins, thereby improving detection limits for uranium and radium isotopes. These methods rely on straightforward techniques and widely available materials. Water radionuclide data collected over the past three years include 228Ra. We compared it with data from the previous three-year set of similar water sample studies and with data from studies conducted on drinking water sources in the Zhytomyr region from 1999 to 2019. The data were consistent across sources. The 226Ra/228Ra ratio mainly ranges from 0.5 to 3.5. Radiation doses were expressed as lifetime average annual doses, considering age-dependent dose coefficients and relevant weighting factors. When evaluating potential radiation exposure, emphasis is placed on Ra isotopes, as they contribute most to the radiation dose. The activity concentration of 228Ra ranged from 3 to 500 mBq/L, corresponding to an irradiation dose of 2.7 to 452 µSv/y, which accounts for up to 96.2% (median – 65.6%) of the total irradiation dose from U and Ra isotopes ingested through drinking water.