Artigo de peri??dico
Phosphogypsum recycling in the building materials industry: assessment of the radon exhalation rate
Registro en:
0265-931X
172
10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.04.002
54.752
Autor
CAMPOS, M.P.
COSTA, L.J.P.
NISTI, M.B.
MAZZILLI, B.P.
Resumen
Phosphogypsum can be classified as a Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) residue of the
phosphate fertilizer industry. One of the main environmental concerns of its use as building material is
the radon exhalation. The aim of this study is to measure the radon exhalation rate from plates and bricks
manufactured with phosphogypsum from three installations of the main Brazilian producer, Vale Fertilizantes,
in order to evaluate the additional health risk to dwellers. A simple and reliable accumulator
method involving a PVC pipe sealed with a PVC pipe cover commercially available with CR-39 radon
detector into a diffusion chamber was used for measuring radon exhalation rate from phosphogypsum
made plates and bricks. The radon exhalation rate from plates varied from 0.19 ?? 0.06 Bq m 2 h 1, for
phosphogypsum from Bunge Fertilizers, from 1.3 ?? 0.3 Bq m 2 h 1, for phosphogypsum from Ultrafertil.
As for the bricks, the results ranged from 0.11 ?? 0.01 Bq m 2 h 1, for phosphogypsum from Bunge
Fertilizers, to 1.2 ?? 0.3 Bq m 2 h 1, for phosphogypsum from Ultrafertil. The results obtained in this study
for the radon exhalation rate from phosphogypsum plates and bricks are of the same order of magnitude
than those from ordinary building materials. So, it can be concluded that the recycling of phosphogypsum
as building material is a safe practice, since no additional health risk is expected from the
radiological point of view. Funda????o de Amparo ?? Pesquisa do Estado de S??o Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient??fico e Tecnol??gico (CNPq) FAPESP: 09/17654-8 CNPq: 300835/95-7