Absorbed Dose Rates in Air along the Roads in Quezon City, Philippines
Kazuki Iwaoka1*, Lorna Jean H. Palad2, Christopher O. Mendoza2,
Masahiro Hosoda3,4, Paolo Tristan F. Cruz2, Eliza B. Enriquez2,
Ryan Joseph Aniago2, Chitho P. Feliciano2, Shinji Tokonami4, Reiko Kanda1
1National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Sciences and Technology,
4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage, Chiba 263-8555 Japan
2Health Physics Research Section, Atomic Research Division,
Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Nuclear
Research Institute, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines
3Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 66-1 Honcho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564 Japan
4Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, Hirosaki University,
66-1 Honcho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564 Japan
*Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
Nuclear power plant facilities are either in the planning stage or under construction in neighboring countries around the Philippines. It is important to obtain background dose rates data in advance before the occurrence of any radiological or nuclear accidents in the future in order to estimate the increase in dose rates due to the radiological and nuclear accidents. In the Philippines, many people are living in Metro Manila. Quezon City is the largest area in Metro Manila and has many educational facilities and government agencies. In this study, the dose rates were continuously measured along major roads in Quezon City by the car-borne survey. The measured dose rates on the road ranged from 7.7 to 41 nGy h–1 – with a calculated mean value of 13 nGy h–1. These dose rates were less than that of the background level for terrestrial gamma rays in the world (59 nGy h–1). These results will be useful as reference data for background levels in case of any future radiological or nuclear accidents.
INTRODUCTION
After the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident happened on 11 Mar 2011, many investigations of absorbed dose rates in the air were being performed (NRA 2014). Since dose rates on these investigations include dose rates before the FDNPP accident (i.e., background data), data on dose rates before the FDNPP accident are needed to estimate the increase in dose rates due to the FDNPP accident. . . . . read more
REFERENCES
ANIAGO RJ, MENDOZA CO, RACADIO CD, GARCIA TY. 2016. Temporal variation profile of the real-time environmental radiation monitoring system in PNRI 2015 [Project Terminal Report]. p. 2–9.
BOSSEW P, CINELLI G, HERNANDEZ-CEBALLOS M, CERNOHLAWEK N, GRUBER V, DEHANDSCHUTTER B, MENNESON F, BLEHER M, STOHLKER U, HELLMANN I, WEILER F, TOLLEFSEN T, TOGNOLI PV, DE CORT M. 2017. Estimating the terrestrial gamma dose rate by decomposition of the ambient dose equivalent rate. J Environ Radioact 166: 296–308.
HOSODA M, TOKONAMI S, OMORI Y, SAHOO SK, AKIBA S, SORIMACHI A, ISHIKAWA T, NAIR RR, JAYALEKSHMI PA, SEBASTIAN P, IWAOKA K, AKATA N, KUDO H. 2015. Estimation of external dose by car-borne survey in Kerala, India. PLoS ONE 10:e0124433.
HOSODA M, INOUE K, OKA M, OMORI Y, IWAOKA K, TOKONAMI S. 2016. Environmental radiation monitoring and external dose estimation in Aomori Prefecture after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Jpn J Health Phys 51: 41–50.
[IAEA] International Atomic Energy Agency. 2016. Country nuclear power profiles 2016 edition. Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/cnpp2016/pages/index.htm on 06 Aug 2017.
[IAEA] International Atomic Energy Agency. 2003. Guidelines for radioelement mapping using gamma ray spectrometry data [IAEA-TECDOC-1363]. Vienna, Austria.
[ICRP] International Commission on Radiological Protection. 1996. Conversion coefficients for use in radiological protection against External Radiation. Ottawa, OR. p. 74.
LE TV, INOUE K, TSURUOKA H, FUJISAWA M, ARAI M, NGUYEN LDH,SOMBOON S, FUKUSHI M. 2018. Effective dose due to terrestrial gamma radiation estimated in southern Vietnam by car-borne survey technique. Radiat Prot Dosim 179: 18–25.
LICINIO MV, FREITAS AC, EVANGELISTA H, COSTA-GONCALVES A, MIRANDA M, ALENCAR AS. 2013. A high spatial resolution outdoor dose rate map of the Rio de Janeiro city, Brasil, risk assessment and urbanization effects. J Environ Radioact 126: 32–39.
[MGB] Mines and Geosciences Bureau. 2002. Geologic Map of the Philippines. Quezon City, Philippines: Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
[NRA] Nuclear Regulation Authority. 2014. Monitoring information of environmental radioactivity level. Tokyo, Japan: Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved from: http://radioactivity.nsr.go.jp/en/ on 06 Aug 2017.
[NRA] Nuclear Regulation Authority. 2017. Emergency monitoring (The appendix of guideline on nuclear emergency prevention measures). Tokyo, Japan: Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved from: http://www.nsr.go.jp/data/000027739.pdf on 22 Sep 2017 (in Japanese).
OMORI Y, SORIMACHI A, GUN-AAJAV M, ENKHGENEL N, OYUNBOLOR G, PALAM E, YAMADA C. 2018. Elevation of gamma dose rate by construction of the Asian highway 3 (AH3) between Ulaanbaatar and Sainshand, Mongolia. Radiat Prot Dosim (in press).
PORNNUMPA C, IWAOKA K, AKATA N, HOSODA M, SORIMACHI A, TOKONAMI S. 2016. Investigation of absorbed dose rate in air by a car-borne survey in Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture. Jpn J Health Phys 51: 115–121.
[QCLG] Quezon City Local Government. 2018. Quezon City local government site. Retrieved from: http://quezoncity.gov.ph/index.php on 14 Mar 2019.
SANUSI MSM, RAMLI AT, HASSAN WMSW, LEE MH, IZHAM A, SAID MN, WAGRIAN H, HERYANSHAH A. 2017. Assessment of impact of urbanisation on background radiation exposure and human health risk estimation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Environ Int 104: 91–101.
[UNSCEAR] United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. 2000. Radiation sources and effects of ionizing radiation [UNSCEAR Report 2000]. Vienna, Austria.
WESSEL P, SMITH W. 1991. Free software helps map and display data. Eos Trans AGU 72(41): 441–446.
XIONG S, WANG N, FAN Z, CHU X, WU Q, PEI S, WAN J, ZENG L. 2012. Mapping the terrestrial air-absorbed gamma dose rate based on the data of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry in southern cities of China. J Nucl Sci Tech 49: 61–70.
