Radioactivity in milk consumed in Nigeria 10 years after Chernobyl reactor accident

The average concentrations of the radioactivity in milk imported into and consumed in Nigeria, 10 years after Chernobyl-4 nuclear power plant accident, have been measured by means of a well-calibrated high-purity germanium detector. The photopeaks observed with reliable regularity belong to the naturally occurring series-decay radionuclides headed by 238U and 232Th, as well as the non-series decay type, 40K. Ten years after the nuclear accident, 137Cs was not detected in any of the milk samples in view of the possible transfer through the soil-grass-cow-milk route, the time interval being one third the 137Cs half-life (30.2 yr). The average total specific activity values of 23.07±7.75, 4.35±2.06 and 831.66±54.83 Bq kg-1 for 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K, respectively, were obtained