Radioactivity of phosphogypsum in the south-west of Spain

Abstract

Phosphogypsum is the by-product of producing phosphoric acid by reacting phosphate rock with sulphuric acid. In the south-west of Spain, and near the town of Huelva, there is a big industrial complex with some factories devoted to the production of phosphoric acid, which produce annually 3 X 106 metric tonnes of phosphogypsum. Of this amount 80% is stored in nearby sites named 'gyp-stacks'. The phosphate rock treated in these factories for the production of phosphoric acid has 238U activities between 1000 and 1600 Bq.kg-1, being their daughters in approximately secular equilibrium. A fraction of these radionuclides, and in different proportion, goes with the phosphogypsum. The radionuclide activity concentrations in various phosphogypsum samples collected at different places in the gyp-stacks are given, and an average dose rate in air due to gamma rays at a point 1 m above these areas is also determined