Dosimetry evaluation of the potential exposure bound to uranium and thorium natural accumulation in the sand of some beaches of the Camargue littoral

The aim of this report is the assessment of potential exposure to radioactive sands discovered in 2000 in two points of the coast of the Camargue (East of Beauduc and Espiguette lighthouses), where specific activity can reach up several thousands of Bq.kg-1 for radionuclides of U238 and Th232 radioactive families, and environmental dose rate up to ten times of usual natural background. The excess of radioactivity is carried by small particles of sand (apatites and zircons less than 100 μm). First chapter focuses on radioactivity of the coast of the Golfe du lion and of the Camargue, and more particularly on these two points (cartography, measure, radionuclide identification, mineralogical characterization of particles). This chapter concludes the excess of radioactivity is natural; particles come from several massifs of the Rhone basin, transported by the river and re-distributed on the coast. Second chapter focuses on dosimetric assessment, using reasonable scenarios for the frequenting of these sites by persons of the public in one hand, and drawing up the sizing of the sands and their solubility in gastric and intestinal fluids in an other hand. the annual effective dose, carefully calculated, is about 1 mSv, mainly due to external exposure to gamma rays. such a dose, of same levels as the dose received for 17 months of residence in Paris for example, does not involve any particular action. (authors)