Partitioning behavior of natural radionuclides in coal combustion residues from thermal power plants

Naturally occurring radionuclides such as 210Po, 226Ra, 238U, 232Th and 40K released by the power plant pose a potential health hazard. Therefore it is necessary to characterize and quantify the natural radioactivity content in fly ash and bottom ash for subsequent evaluation of the associated environmental and biological risks. In the present study, fly ash samples collected from six coal fired power plants across India were measured for 238U, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K by a HPGe γ-ray spectrometer, while 210Po was radio-chemically extracted and counted by alpha spectrometer. The partitioning behavior of these nuclides were studied in fly ash and bottom ash