Assessment of annual effective dose from 238U and 226Ra due to consumption of foodstuffs by inhabitants of Tehran city (IR)

The concentrations of 238U and 226Ra were determined in different foodstuffs purchased from markets in Tehran. Determinations of the radionuclides have been carried out using alpha spectrometry technique, on samples of egg, lentil, potato, rice, soya, spinach, tea and wheat. Average concentrations of natural radionuclides and foodstuff consumption rate were used to assess annual intake and based on intake values, the annual effective ingestion dose has been estimated for Tehran city residents. The measurement results show that soya has the maximum concentration of 238U equal to 15.6 ± 2.6 mBq kg-1 and tea has the maximum concentration of 226Ra equal to 1153.3 ± 265.3 mBq kg-1. Besides, the maximum annual effective dose from 238U and 226Ra were assessed to be 2.88 x 10-2 ±7.20 x 10-3 and 2.15 ± 0.54 μSv, respectively, from wheat samples. (authors)