Email: fcaridi@unime.it

Keywords: radioactivity, radiological risk, construction materials.

The natural radioactivity content in construction materials of assets of particular historical-artistic importance was investigated through High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometry. In particular, the activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in river sediments and pigments, i.e. raw building materials employed in the fresco technique (Fig. 1), was assessed with the aim of evaluating the background levels of natural radioactivity in the analyzed samples [1-2].

Moreover, in order to estimate the radiological health risks due to the external exposure to the enquired materials, the absorbed dose rate, the annual effective dose equivalent outdoor and indoor, the radium equivalent activity, the hazard indices and the activity concentration index were calculated and compared with the threshold limits set by the Italian Legislation (D. Lgs. 101/20).

Finally, the obtained results gave a promising contribution in view of the development of a database on the natural radioactivity content in construction materials of cultural heritage.

References

[1] Caridi F., Di Bella M., Sabatino G., Belmusto G., Fede M.R., Romano D., Italiano F., Mottese A.F. Assessment of Natural Radioactivity and Radiological Risks in River Sediments from Calabria (Southern Italy). Applied Sciences 11(4) (2021) 1729

[2] Caridi F., Spoto S.E., Paladini G., D’Agostino M., Marguccio S., Belvedere A., Crupi V., Majolino D., Venuti V. Measurement of the natural radioactivity content of earth pigments and evaluation of radiological health risks. Proceedings of the 2022 Imeko International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.