Assessment of Radioactivity and Health Implications of Some Surface Soils in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, North Central, Nigeria

In this work, the activity concentration of some radionuclides in soil samples collected from 10 locations in Guma local government area of Benue State Nigeria have been determined using Gamma ray spectroscopy. (Model: 3M3/3). The soil activity for urban areas ranged from 38.12–58.10Bq/kg, 3.53–4.41Bq/kg, and3.35 –7.11Bq/kg for 40K, 238U and 232Th respectively for urban areas while in the rural areas the concentrations ranged from 54.06 –76.17Bq/kg, 3.66 – 5.27Bq/kg？ and 4.74 – 7.18Bq/kg？ 40K, 238U and 232Th respectively. The absorbed dose and annual effective dose range from 5.89 – 7.70nGy/h and 0.01mSv/y in the urban areas with mean of 6.48nGy/h and 0.01mSv/y while in the？ rural area, the values ranges from 7.48 – 8.52nGy/h and 0.01 – 0.02mSv/y with mean values of 8.00nGy/h and 0.01mSv/y. All the computed values are much lower than permissible value recommended by the United Nation for Scientific Committee on Effect of Atomic Radiation UNSCEAR but lower than the values reported by (Avwiri and Ononugbo, 2012) and (Ajayi et al; 2013).？