Radionuclide contents and radiological risk to the population due to raw minerals and soil samples from the mining sites of quality ceramic and pottery industries in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria

Samples of domestically produced industrial raw minerals and soil samples from three mining sites of quality ceramic/smelting and pottery industries in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, were collected and analyzed for their 226Ra, 232Th and 40K contents using gamma-ray spectroscopy. The range of activity concentrations of the radionuclides in the industrial raw minerals were 17.55 ± 1.63 to 80.99 ± 2.61 Bq.kg-1 for 226Ra, 7.64 ± 0.77 to 23.94 ± 0.92 Bq.kg-1 for 232Th and 63.22 ± 3.43 to 503.90 ± 5.69 Bq.kg-1 for 40