Volume : VIII, Issue : I, January - 2019

EXPOSURE TO BACKGROUND IONIZING RADIATION FROM QUARRIES AND PREMISES IN KISUMU COUNTY, KENYA

Richard O. Oduor

Abstract :

 

Introduction: Exposure to higher levels of ionizing radiation beyond the recommended threshold may cause DNA mutation thereby resulting in varying disease conditions including cancer. As such, determination of levels of ionizing background radiation from quarries and premises where humans live become critical to ensure health safety.

Materials and Methods: Background ionizing radiations were captured from quarries and premises in Kisumu County. A total of 427 premises were sampled and the data subjected to descriptive statistics as well as analysis of variance at 95% stringency level to reveal statistical significance among and within the variables.

Results: Neither quarries nor premises sampled had their annual ionizing radiation levels below the WHO recommended threshold of 1mSv.  Majority of quarries (45%) and premises (52%) clustered between 101–200 and 201–300 categories, respectively. Lolwe revealed the highest level of ionizing radiation with a 296% deviation from WHO recommended standard while the lowest level of ionizing radiation of 179% was recorded in Kakwacha.

Conclusion:  The results reported here indicate presence of higher levels of ionizing radiations in quarries and premises beyond the acceptable annual threshold thereby posing significant health risk to the public. These results form the basis for a nationwide research to determine the scope of the risk in order to guide the formulation of the national building code, related policies and mitigation interventions to safeguard the safety of the Kenyan public.

Keywords :

Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

EXPOSURE TO BACKGROUND IONIZING RADIATION FROM QUARRIES AND PREMISES IN KISUMU COUNTY, KENYA, Richard O. Oduor INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH : Volume-8 | Issue-1 | January-2019

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