Measurements of environmental radiation exposure dose rates at selected sites in Brazil.

Two types of portable instruments were developed by the former Health and Safety Laboratory of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to characterize external gamma radiation fields and to estimate individual exposure dose rates from major natural or fission radionuclides distributed in the soil: a pressurized ionization chamber and a NaI(T1) gamma-ray spectrometer. The two instruments were used to measure environmental radiation exposure rates at three distinct geological areas of Brazil: - in the towns of Guarapari and Meaípe located on the monazite sand belt, ES. - on the vicinities of the uranium mine of Poços de Caldas, MG. - around the site of the Brazilian first nuclear power plant, in Angra dos Reis, RJ. The radiometric survey demonstrated once more the usefulness and versatility of the two instruments used. The measurements around the nuclear installations of Poços de Caldas and Angra dos Reis, allowed a rapid assessment of the local radiation background and its variability, as well as the selection of stations for the routine monitoring program. Radioactive anomalies were detected and characterized previously to the start of plant operations. The survey in Guarapari and Meaípe confirmed the results obtained by Roser and Cullen in 1958 and 1962, except on sites where considerable changes took place since then. The spectrometric measurements gave estimations of the relative proportion of 40K, 238U and 232Th series in the ground and also indications on the homogeneity of their distribution in the soil.