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Effect of Fukushima Accident on Fishes and Fish Like Other Foods Collected from the Bay of Bengal and Karnaphuli River, Bangladesh

Akhi Das Gupta
Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh

Md. Kowsar Alam
Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh

Shyamal Ranjan Chakraborty
Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh

A. K. M. Rezaur Rahman
Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh

S. I. Bhuian
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Chittagong, Bangladesh

Masud Kamal
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Chittagong, Bangladesh

Hasan Murad
Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh

Arun Kumar Deb
Department of Physics, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

An experiment was carried out to assess the radiological exposure due to the intake of fishes and fish like foods from some common estuary (Karnaphuli River) and Marine (Bay of Bengal) contaminated by Fukushima Reactor Accident, if any, by using gamma spectroscopy. The analysis was done to estimate the radioactivity concentrations due to natural radionuclides namely ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K and artificial radionuclide 137Cs in Karnaphuli estuary and Chittagong city adjoining Bay of Bengal fish and fish-like samples. The activity concentration for²³⁸U in all the samples ranged from 0.10615 ± 0.0000 to 2.4767 ± 0.0005 Bq.kg^-1 with the mean of 0.6109 ± 0.0001 Bq.kg^-1. The Activity of ²³²Th ranged from 0.0009 ± 0.0000 to 0.0273 ± 0.0000 Bq.kg^-1 with the mean of 0.0074 ± 0.0000 Bq.kg^-1. The activity concentration for ⁴⁰K was found to be in the range from 1.5516 ± 0.0311 to 74.8658 ± 0.2532 Bq.kg^-1 with the mean of 24.9533 ± 0.0702 Bq.kg^-1. The artificial radionuclide ¹³⁷Cs was not found in any of the samples. The specific activity values for most of the sample were within the permissible limits. The average effective dose and internal hazard index due to consumption of those fishes and fish-like foods was found to be 0.1 mSv.y^-1 and 0.0085 ± 0.0000 mSv.y^-1 respectively. The research work showed that the consumers of concerned fishes and fish-like foods of the Chittagong area have no risk of radioactivity ingestion even though no amount of radiation is assumed to be totally safe.

Keywords: River Fishes, Sea Fishes, Ingestion, Radioactive Exposure

Location: Bay of Bengal and Karnaphuuli River, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Animal Health and Management

Commodity: Aquatic animal, Food

Objectives:

To investigate the effect of this huge radiation in the seafoods of Bay of Bengal.

Methodology:

Counting Efficiencies of the HPGe Detector: The counting efficiency of the detector was calculated using the following formula.

Efficiency = CPS / (Activity x Intensity). where,
CPS = Net count per second (i.e. CPS from standard source – CPS for background),
Activity (A) = Standard source activity for respective energy,
Intensity ( I_γ) = Intensity of gamma energies.
Data acquisition and analysis for Activity calculation: The samples after pretreatment, preparation and packing in the air tight sealed pots have been stored for 4 weeks to reach secular equilibrium between the ²³⁸U and ²³²Th series and their respective progeny before their measurements. It is assumed that ²²²Rn and ²²⁰Rn could not escape from the sealed containers after closure. The gamma ray activities of the fish samples have been in High Purity Germanium Detector (HPGe) that has been coupled with Digital Spectrum Analyzer-1000 (DSA-1000). For calculating the counting efficiencies and hence the activity of samples, the adjustment of necessary parameters of the detector such as resolution, peak to Compton ratio etc and measurement of the minimum detectable activity of the detector have been done. Each of the standard source and collected samples have been placed on the top of the detector one by one in due course within the shielding arrangement by following the standard procedure. The standard sources samples have been counted for 55,160 seconds and each of the collected samples have been counted for 10,000 seconds. Preparation of Samples: In this study, a total number of 14 samples have been collected from four locations of Chittagong City namely (1) FishariGhat (shipping fishing zone), (2) Reazuddin Bazar, (3) Chawk Bazar and (4) Directly from the fisherman of “fifteen no. Naval Ghat” by ensuring that the fishing have been done on the Karnaphuli estuary or/and the Bay of Bengal. The samples were collected in a clean polyethylene bag and a proper identification number was given. All the samples were divided into two parts like crab and flesh after that the samples were prepared for taking the counting.

Source of Information: The Chittagong Univ. J. Sci. 40 : 75-96, 2018

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The following are the consequences of the present study.
? The activity concentration of natural radionuclides of Uranium series has been found to be higher than that of the Thorium series in the entire fish samples.
? The activity concentration of 238U has been found to be high in river (Karnaphuli estuary) fish samples than Marine fish samples.
? A large variation (1.5516 to 74.8658 Bq.kg-1) of the activity concentration of 40K is found in these samples.
? The Radiological parameters viz. annual effective dose and internal hazard index in River (Karnaphuli estuary) fish sample is higher than the Marine fish samples.
? The observed average internal radiation hazard index in the entire fish sample is 0.008529, but the recommended value of the radiation hazard index is 1(one).
Since the radiation hazard index is less than that of the standard value, so the population who are the consumer of this food are under the safety limit of radiological threat due to the dumping of the Fukushima nuclear accidental wastes in the Pacific ocean.

Knowledge Management: Journal