Natural radioactivity in refractory manufacturing plants and exposure of workers to ionising radiation

This paper shows the results of a survey carried out at some refractory manufacturing plants. During the first part of the survey, the concentration of natural radioactivity in raw materials and end-products, coming from four plants, was assessed. Several raw materials and, as a consequence, some end-products as well have shown activity concentrations exceeding a few hundreds of Bq kg⁻¹ of ²³⁸U and ²³²Th. In some important raw materials, such as bauxite and corundums, a remarkable radioactive disequilibrium was observed; this is probably due to the high temperature processes undergone by these materials. The second part of the survey focussed on the measurements of ambient equivalent dose rates, airborne dust concentrations and radon indoor. On the basis of results obtained, the effective dose for the standard worker was estimated. Two different types of refractory plants were investigated. Effective doses for both plants were lower than 1 mSv y⁻¹.