[ Étude des facteurs de risques de rayonnements ionisants sur les personnes travaillants dans les sites miniers artisanaux : Cas de l’ancien site Musompo ]
Volume 31, Issue 2, December 2020, Pages 301–315
Robert LWAMBA ILONDA1 and Patrick MBWEB KATSHIL2
1 Commissariat Général à l’Energie Atomique, Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
2 Commissariat Général à l’Energie Atomique, Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
Original language: French
Copyright © 2020 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The risk factors of ionizing radiation on people working in the artisanal mining sector seem to be neglected due to the lack of information for workers in this trading center. These intense mining activities observed on the latter generate large quantities of aerosols in the environment due to the particle size reduction that takes place there and we note that inhalation and ingestion by the latter is inevitable; especially during the dry season; in addition, there is a risk of irradiation and contamination by radioelements which could be contained in the aerosols and which would cause transformations of certain organs of the body due to their levels of radiosensitivity. To this end, to have more details on the probability of the risk due to the contamination and the irradiation of these radioactive elements which would be contained in these aerosols, we have opted as a research technique based on observation, interview and questioning all the people working directly on this site as well as taking measurements of ambient radioactivity levels. The results obtained show that, in general, the values of the ambient radioactivity levels taken are fair but exceed 0.5 µSv / h, which is the limit value accepted by ICRP 103 (international commission on radiological protection) for persons of public and published in 2007; and recommend a worker dosimetric monitoring program to prevent any risk of contamination and exposure.
Author Keywords: Study of factors, risks, ionizing radiation, person, mining crafts, musompo.
Volume 31, Issue 2, December 2020, Pages 301–315
Robert LWAMBA ILONDA1 and Patrick MBWEB KATSHIL2
1 Commissariat Général à l’Energie Atomique, Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
2 Commissariat Général à l’Energie Atomique, Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
Original language: French
Copyright © 2020 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The risk factors of ionizing radiation on people working in the artisanal mining sector seem to be neglected due to the lack of information for workers in this trading center. These intense mining activities observed on the latter generate large quantities of aerosols in the environment due to the particle size reduction that takes place there and we note that inhalation and ingestion by the latter is inevitable; especially during the dry season; in addition, there is a risk of irradiation and contamination by radioelements which could be contained in the aerosols and which would cause transformations of certain organs of the body due to their levels of radiosensitivity. To this end, to have more details on the probability of the risk due to the contamination and the irradiation of these radioactive elements which would be contained in these aerosols, we have opted as a research technique based on observation, interview and questioning all the people working directly on this site as well as taking measurements of ambient radioactivity levels. The results obtained show that, in general, the values of the ambient radioactivity levels taken are fair but exceed 0.5 µSv / h, which is the limit value accepted by ICRP 103 (international commission on radiological protection) for persons of public and published in 2007; and recommend a worker dosimetric monitoring program to prevent any risk of contamination and exposure.
Author Keywords: Study of factors, risks, ionizing radiation, person, mining crafts, musompo.
Abstract: (french)
Les facteurs de risques de rayonnements ionisants sur les personnes qui travaillent dans le secteur minier artisanal semblent être négligés suite au manque d’information des travailleurs de ce centre de négoce. Ces activités minières intenses remarquées sur ce dernier génèrent des grandes quantités d’aérosols dans l’environnement à cause de la réduction granulométrique qui s’y effectue et nous remarquons que l’inhalation et ingestion par ces derniers est inévitables; surtout pendant la saison sèche; en plus, il y a risque d’irradiation et de contamination par les radioéléments qui pourraient être contenu dans les aérosols et qui causeraient des transformations des certains organes du corps suite à leurs niveaux de radiosensibilité. A cet effet, pour avoir plus des détails sur la probabilité du risque dus à la contamination et l’irradiation de ces éléments radioactifs qui seraient contenus dans ces aérosols, nous avons opté comme technique de recherche basée sur l’observation, l’interview et le questionnement de toutes les personnes travaillant directement sur ce site ainsi qu’au prélèvement des mesures de taux de radioactivité ambiant. Les résultats obtenus montre, qu’en général, les valeurs des taux de radioactivités ambiante prises sont passables mais dépassent 0,5 µSv/h, qui est la valeur limite admise par la CIPR 103 (commission internationale de protection radiologique) pour les personnes du publics et publiée en 2007; et recommandons un programme de suivi dosimétrique des travailleurs pour prévenir tout risque de contamination et d’exposition.
Author Keywords: Etude des facteurs, risques, rayonnements ionisants, personne, artisanat miniers, musompo.
How to Cite this Article
Robert LWAMBA ILONDA and Patrick MBWEB KATSHIL, “Study of the risk factors of ionizing radiation on people working in artisanal mining sites: Case of the former Musompo site,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 301–315, December 2020.
