Assessment of radiological impacts through radionuclide analysis in drinking water

In this study, the activity concentrations of natural ( 40 K, 226 Ra, and 232 Th) and artificial ( 3 H) radionuclides in 20 brands of domestic drinking water samples consumed in Korea using a gamma-ray spectrometry with high-purity germanium detector and liquid scintillation counter, respectively. Also, the radiological health risk caused by the ingestion of drinking water samples was assessed estimating radiological parameters such as annual effective dose (AED) and the corresponding excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR). The average activity concentrations of 40 K, 226 Ra, and 232 Th were found as 704, 72, and 110 mBq/L, respectively, whereas 3 H was below the minimum detectable activity of 2Bq/L. The average AEDs for 40 K, 226 Ra, and 232 Th were 3.2, 14.7, and 18.4 μSv/y, respectively, for adults. Similarly, the average ELCRs for these radionuclides were 1.2 × 10 −5 , 5.3 × 10 −5 , and 6.6 × 10 −5 , respectively. The findings revealed that the values of radiological parameters were lower than the acceptable radiological risk levels. Overall, the continuous intake of the 20 brands of mineral water does not lead to exceeding the maximum annual effective reference dose of 100 μSv/y recommended by the World Health Organization. Therefore, the mineral water consumed in Korea is radiologically safe and does not pose significant radiation exposure or health risks.