Assessment of annual effective dose from super(238)U and super(226)Ra due to consumption of foodstuffs by inhabitants of Tehran City, Iran

The concentrations of super(238)U and super(226)Ra were determined in different foodstuffs purchased from markets in Tehran. Determinations of the radionuclides have been carried out using alpha spectrometry technique, on samples of egg, lentil, potato, rice, soya, spinach, tea and wheat. Average concentrations of natural radionuclides and foodstuff consumption rate were used to assess annual intake and based on intake values, the annual effective ingestion dose has been estimated for Tehran city residents. The measurement results show that soya has the maximum concentration of super(238)U equal to 15.6 plus or minus 2.6 mBq kg super(-1) and tea has the maximum concentration of super(226)Ra equal to 1153.3 plus or minus 265.3 mBq kg super(-1). Besides, the maximum annual effective dose from super(238)U and super(226)Ra were assessed to be 2.88 x 10 super(-2) plus or minus 7.20 x 10 super(-3) and 2.15 plus or minus 0.54 mu Sv, respectively, from wheat samples.