Environmental Gamma Radiation Dose Measurement in Tumkur, Karnataka, India

The present work tries to estimate the environmental gamma radiation dose rate in Tumkur using German made Gamma-Scout dosimeter. The human being is continuously exposed to external radiation. Harmful effects are produced in human body whenever radiation is absorbed in excess amount. The largest contribution to external exposure comes from naturally occurring, gamma-emitting radioactive nuclides present in the Earth’s crust such as ⁴⁰K, ²³⁸U and ²³²Th. Natural radioactivity varies with the presence of radioactive elements in given environmental areas. The background radiation dose measurement is essential for protection of Public from the harmful effects of radioactive radiations. The Gamma-Scout is general purpose survey meter which measures alpha, beta and gamma radiations. It is a dose rate meter equipped with a Geiger-Müller counter. Gamma-Scout automatically logs the number of pulses measured, and stores this data in its internal memory. This data can be processed by a Personal Computer using the supporting software. The measurements were carried out at Vidya nagara, S.S puram, Sapthagiri extension and Shanti Nagara. The average annual effective dose due to natural background radiation at Vidya nagara is found to be 1.74mSv/yr which is maximum compared to the Shantinagara having the background dose rate 1.44mSv/yr. The average effective annual dose rates measured in selected areas of Tumkur town is less than the world wide average value 2.4mSv/year.