Assessment of radiological exposures in the vicinity of Gold mining area of Wau-Bulolo in Papua New Guinea

Reports of natural radioactivity measurements from the environmentally sensitive regions of Papua New Guinea are few and far between. Radiological impacts owing to exposure to radionuclides which are naturally occurring from gold-mine regions in the Wau-Bulolo district of Morobe province in Papua New Guinea were appraised. Experimental locations were selected along the Bulolo River and its tributaries.

Ambient gamma levels were measured from the locations directly using a digital gamma dosimeter and the resulting indoor and outdoor annual effective doses were estimated. Measurements in the locations along with two control points each were made for the dose assessments. Selected radionuclides other than primordial were assessed in the samples of surface soil collected from sampling sites and control points. Gamma ray spectroscopy was used to estimate the activity levels of radionuclides in the soil samples collected from the sampling and control areas.

Presence of selected radionuclides were found in the soil samples along the river flowing through the mining area. All the samples analyzed showed very low activity levels thus having negligible effect on the background radiation level and human health.