Gross alpha and beta radioactivity in surface soil and drinkable water around a steel processing facility

The mean gross alpha and beta activities in surface soil and drinkable water in the surrounding communities of a steel processing company, following a continuous exposure of workers and dwellers is determined using a low background Gas-less counting system with a solid state silicon PIPS detector for alpha and beta detection. The average activities for gross alpha and beta in soil ranged between 48.5 ± 15.8–64.0 ± 10.0Bq/kg and 411.5 ± 11.5–2710.0 ± 150.0Bq/kg respectively, whereas in water it ranged between 0.0064 ± 0.0001–0.0182 ± 0.0001 Bq/l and 0.046 ± 0.001–0.126 ± 0.001 Bq/l respectively. The average annual committed effective dose from intake of water was between 0.0304 mSv and 0.0678 mSv which is lower than the recommended reference level for ingested dose from drinkable water.