Natural radioactivity in roadside soil along Jamshedpur-Musabani road: a mineralised and mining region, Jharkhand and associated risk.

The specific activity and the gamma radiation dose rates due to naturally occurring radioactive materials ((238)U, (232)Th and (40)K) were determined in 26 roadside surface soils along Jamshedpur-Musabani road-a mineralised and mining region, using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. The concentrations of (238)U, (232)Th and (40)K in the soil samples were found to be in the range of 16.6 +/- 0.6-390.5 +/- 1.6, 24.1 +/- 0.7-148.2 +/- 2.1 and 85.9 +/- 3.8-881.6 +/- 22.4 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The annual effective dose equivalent was found to be in the range of 0.04-0.32 mSv y(-1) with an average value of 0.13 mSv y(-1). The excess cancer risk is in the range of 0.16 x 10(-3)-1.22 x 10(-3) with an average value of 0.49 x 10(-3).