New articles published: V. 14 n. 1 (2026)

Committed Effective Dose by Ingestion Food Grown in PEPB

Abstract: Radionuclides can be incorporated through ingestion and within the human body, they become a source of internal exposure. Therefore, identifying and quantifying the radionuclides present in food is an important step in environmental monitoring and radiological protection. From this perspective, the activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra and ²²⁸Th were calculated for six organic crop samples: avocado, cabbage, carrot, persimmon, pineapple and onion, from the PEPB (stands for Pedra Branca State Park), Conservation Unit. Radionuclide analysis was conducted using gamma spectrometry with the use of a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector in conjunction with the Genie 2000 software package. The activity concentrations of the radionuclides were calculated based on simulated detection efficiencies. The highest activity concentration of ⁴⁰K was obtained for the carrot (101.83 ± 15.47) Bq.kg^-1, and the highest effective dose value, 1.64 µSv.year^-1, was obtained for avocado. The concentration of ²²⁶Ra activity was below the minimum detectable activity in all samples. Concentrations of ²²⁸Ra were only detected in cabbage and carrots. Activity concentrations of ²²⁸Th were detected in all samples, although at low levels. Estimated ingestion doses are within the limits established by the ICRP 119. Thus, the consumption of these organic foods grown in the PEPB is radiologically safe. Read full article.