Levels of natural radioactivity in mineral and thermal waters of Bosnia and Herzegovina

With gamma spectrometric method 23 samples of mineral and thermal waters of Bosnia and Herzegovina were analyzed. Activity concentrations of the investigated radionuclides were in the range 12–346 mBq·L⁻¹ for ⁴⁰K, 1.1–791 mBq·L⁻¹ for ²²⁶Ra, 0.2–221 mBq·L⁻¹ for ²²⁸Ra, 13–367 mBq·L⁻¹ for ²³⁸U, and 0.6–17 mBq·L⁻¹ for ²³⁵U. For all investigated radionuclides annual effective dose was estimated. The estimated total annual committed effective dose received by population as a result of ingestion of water was in the range 0.11–2.51 μSv·y⁻¹ for thermal water and in the range 0.11–38.8 μSv·y⁻¹ for mineral water. Measurement of activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in the examined samples was carried out with a gamma-spectrometer with high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, having a relative efficiency of 70%.