Assessment of background radiation levels in selected diagnostic radiology department across Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The indoor and outdoor ionizing radiation exposure levels were measured in some randomly selected radiological laboratories of some hospitals across Ondo State, Nigeria using a Kindenoo PG - 15 Geiger Muller detector. Measurements were taken in each of the radiological laboratories of the hospitals in two phases: first, when the x-ray machines were energized and second, when the x-ray machines were not energized. The mean indoor and outdoor annual effective doses varied from 20.53±1.07 to 39.12±0.09 and 0.63±0.32 to 1.17±0.45 mSv/y respectively for the first phase in the radiological laboratories and from 1.68±0.04 to 2.26±0.07 and 0.28±0.02 to 0.42±0.02 mSv/y respectively for the second phase. Using statistical tools, a post-hoc test was carried out to test for the statistical significant difference between the indoor and outdoor annual effective dose in the study area. The test showed a significant difference between the indoor and outdoor annual effective dose at the radiological laboratories when the x-ray machine was energized and when the x-ray machine was not energized.

Keywords: Indoor radiation exposure, Outdoor radiation exposure, X-ray, Annual effective dose