Assessment of polonium activity in monazite sands along high background areas of coastal Kerala

Baseline information on activity concentration of 210Po is important to understand the internal exposure of the human population owing to this radionuclide. In view of this, sand samples were collected from the monazite-bearing regions of coastal Kerala of southwest state of India. The main objective of this study was to determine the activity levels of 210Po in sand samples in the monazite bearing sands and to understand the dependence of physico-chemical parameters on the distribution of this radionuclide in the high background area. The results of 210Po activity in sand samples of high background areas at different depth intervals and at different distances from sea waterline are presented. The activity concentrations of 210Po in sand samples were found to vary from 1.85 Bqkg-1 to 14.09 Bqkg-1. The highest activity of Polonium was observed in Karunagapalli area at distance of 20 m away from sea water line in the depth interval of 10-20 cm. The lowest activity was found in Neendakara beach at a distance of 40 m away from water line in 20-30 cm depth interval. There was no definite order in the variation of 210Po activity with depth. A good correlation with a correlation coefficient of 0.79 was observed between 210Po activity and organic matter content in the sand samples