Lifetime risk assessment of Radium-226 in drinking water samples

Background: one of the most significant radionuclides in natural drinking waters is ^226ra and its decay products. it is potential of health problems, including cancer risk. in this study, the effect of ^226ra concentration in 28 drinking water samples collected from the north guilan province was investigated. materials and methods: the activity concentrations of ^226ra were measured by using of radon emanation method and pylon ab-5 radon scintillation detector. the annual effective dose distribution by age groups, radiological risk and chemical toxicity risk were calculated in drinking water. results: the activity concentration results range from a low limit of detection (lld) 2.0±0.1 mbq l^-1 to 38.2±2.4 mbq l^-1. also, the annual effective dose distribution by age groups estimated results were from 1.8×10^-6 sv y^-1 for adults to 1.5×10^-5 sv y^-1 for infants. the radiological risk assessment results were 1.06×10^-6 to 2.03×10^-5 for morbidity risk, 7.32×10^-7 to 1.40×10^-5 for mortality risk. the chemical toxicity risk results obtained from 1.08×10^-1 to 5.63×10^-3. conclusion: the activity concentration level of ^226ra in all drinking water samples were less than the recommended level who for drinking water 1000 mbq l^-1. meanwhile, annual effective dose level, cancer morbidity, mortality risk and life annual daily dose due to consumption of selected drink water samples were less than the standard limit.