COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NATURAL BACKGROUND RADIATION BETWEEN MAMUJU REGENCY, WEST SULAWESI, AND WEST JAVA Zulfahmi1, Sidik Permana1,2,3,4, Adi R.A.Abdullah2, Imam Ghazali Y3, Ismail Humolongo4, Haryo Seno5
1Master Program in Physics of Teaching, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia
2Doctoral Program in Nuclear Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia.
3Master Program in Physic, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia.
4Master Program in Nuclear Science and Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia.
5Indonesia^s National Research and Inovation Agency, Jl. Tamansari No. 71, Bandung, Indonesia.
Abstract
Some areas has unique of radiation level, caused by high density of building or deposit of radioactive minerals. Mamuju district is the area with High Natural Background Radiation (HNBR) despite the low density of population, while West Java possesing low level radiation is the area with the largest population in Indonesia. Measurements of dose level in these two areas were carried out for two weeks covering nine villages in Mamuju and nine districts in West Java. The method used is random sampling to collect data from one meter on surface, while the tool used was the Ludlum model 19 series 8 Analog Survey meter. The results of radiation measurements were 2.500 mSv/year from 180 datas in Mamuju district and 0.2323 mSv/year in 103 datas in West Java. The big difference between the two is due to the presence of radioactive element-carrying minerals in Mamuju district, while in West Java areas there are no radioactive elements mineralization.
Keywords: HNBR, surveymeter, dose rate, Mamuju, West Java.
