OCCUPATION AND HEALTH ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 78-82.

• Treatise • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Investigation of food radioactivity level around uranium tailings area in Jiangxi Province

WANG Zhe, TAN Li, CAO Faming, DENG Lei()   

  1. Institute of Occupational Medicine of Jiangxi,Nanchang,Jiangxi 330000,China
  • Received:2025-05-08 Revised:2025-05-19 Online:2026-01-01 Published:2026-02-03

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the radioactivity level of food around uranium tailings area in Jiangxi Province,supplement the baseline database of food radio-nuclides in Jiangxi,to provide reference for hygienic evaluation and public health risk assessment. Methods From 2020 to 2023,food samples were collected in four areas surrounding two uranium tailings and control areas in Jiangxi Province,and 12 samples of 5 categories were collected from each area each year. The specific activities of 238U,232Th,226Ra,40K,and 137Cs were detected using high purity germanium(HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometry,and the data were analyzed and evaluated. Results No nuclide 238U was detected in food samples from 2020 to 2023,and the specific activities of other radionuclides were within the national standard limit. Compared with the control area,the relative difference rates of 226Ra and 40K specific activities in food in two uranium tailings were close. The specific activity of radionuclides in tea and soybean was higher than that in other non-milk samples,and there was no statistically significant difference in specific activity of various radionuclides between different regions. The specific activity of 137Cs in 4 milk powder samples in 2022 and 2023 were 0.45,0.90,0.46 and 0.41 Bq/kg,respectively. 137Cs was not detected in other samples. The average annual effective dose due to residents' diet from 2020 to 2023 was 0.07 mSv/a. Conclusion There is no artificial radionuclide 137Cs in local food around uranium tailings in Jiangxi Province,and the radioactivity level in food will not cause harm to the health of residents.

Key words: Uranium tailings in Jiangxi, Food, Radioactivity level, Annual effective dose

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