Radiation Level Assessment of Construction Metals, Kitchen Utensils and Electronic Items

Radiation is what everyone encounters every day both from natural and from manmade sources. Though little could be done to limit radiation from natural sources, limit should be made on radiation levels from man-made sources. In this study, radiation level assessments were made on 19 construction metals, 9 kitchen items and three groups of electronic items using Universal Survey Meter. Radiation rates from each item were measured at four different distances (10, 20, 30 and 40 cm) from the source. Background radiations were measured once daily and the background radiations were subtracted from the daily measured radiation rates of the items to get net radiations, from which dose levels were evaluated. The result (in terms of radiation rate variability with distance) showed radiation levels in excess of the background radiation even though the values were not consistent. The result revealed 12 of the metals, 2 of the kitchen items and one group of electronic items to have doses above the recommended limit. Even though the survey meter did not have the required precision, its results indicated differences between background radiations and radiation rates from all the items. It is indicative of the presence of radionuclides in the metals even if they were in trace amounts. We recommend this study to be taken as a baseline study and more study be carried out using an instrument of better precision and by taking background radiation measurement at the same time radiation rate measurement is made on each item and at exactly the same location.