Assessment of radiation hazard indices arising from natural radionuclides content of powdered milk in Malaysia

• DOI: 10.1007/s10967-015-4172-8
• Publication Date: 2015-05-11T08:55:47Z
• Authors: W. Priharti; S. B. Samat; M. S. Yasir; N. N. Garba
• Keywords: QC Physics; 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences; 3. Good health

The activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were determined by gamma spectrometry in twenty-six different brands of powdered milk available in Malaysia. The measured activity concentration was then used to estimate the radiation hazard indices in term of ingestion dose and cancer risk. The total ingestion dose was found to range between 35.19 and 461.72 μSv y−1 and the estimated cancer risk for adult is 1.23 × 10−4. These results were found to be below the internationally recommended level. This indicates that the powdered milk in Malaysia would not pose any significant radiological impact to the population.