Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Scienze Fisiche e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, V.le F. Stagno D'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell'Ambiente della Calabria (ARPACal)-Dipartimento di Reggio Calabria, Via Troncovito SNC, 89135 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 3;19(17):11040. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191711040.
In this article, an investigation of the natural radioactivity content of pyroclastic products from Mt. Etna, eastern Sicily, Southern Italy, was carried out. In particular, the assessment of the average activity concentration of the investigated radionuclides, related to the mineralogical phase composition of the analyzed samples, and the radiological health risk for the population, was performed. High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometry was employed in order to quantify the average specific activity of Ra, Th, and K natural radioisotopes. The absorbed gamma dose rate (D), the radium equivalent activity (Ra), the hazard indices (H and H), the annual effective dose equivalent outdoor (AEDE), and the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) were also estimated in order to assess any possible radiological hazard for the population. In our case, they were found to be lower than the maximum recommended values for the population members, thus reasonably excluding radiological hazard effects. Moreover, the identification of the source of the aforementioned naturally occurring radionuclides was attempted by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Micro-Raman Scattering (MRS), thereby recognizing the main radioisotope-bearing minerals present in the investigated pyroclastic products. Finally, Pearson correlation, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) were performed by processing observed radioactivity and radiological parameters in order to determine their correlation with the sampling locations.
本文对来自意大利西西里岛东部埃特纳火山的火山碎屑产品的天然放射性含量进行了调查。特别是评估了所研究放射性核素的平均活度浓度，这些核素与分析样品的矿物相组成有关，以及对人群的放射性健康风险。采用高纯锗（HPGe）伽马射线光谱法来定量分析镭、钍和钾天然放射性同位素的平均比活度。还估算了吸收伽马剂量率（D）、镭当量活度（Ra）、危害指数（H 和 H）、室外年有效剂量当量（AEDE）和超额寿命癌症风险（ELCR），以评估人群可能存在的任何放射性危害。在我们的案例中，发现它们低于对人群成员的最大推荐值，从而合理排除了放射性危害的影响。此外，还通过 X 射线衍射（XRD）和微拉曼散射（MRS）尝试识别上述天然放射性核素的来源，从而识别出在所研究的火山碎屑产品中存在的主要放射性同位素载体矿物。最后，通过处理观察到的放射性和放射性参数，进行了 Pearson 相关性、主成分分析（PCA）和层次聚类分析（HCA），以确定它们与采样地点的相关性。
