Natural radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th,and 40K in commercial building materials and their lifetime cancer risk assessment in dwellers

Elevated radioactivity levels of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in building materials were measured using gamma-ray spectrometry and their associated lifetime cancer risks were also determined. The mean activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K are 45.72 ± 0.55, 65.90 ± 8.89, and 487.32 ± 15.20 Bq kg^?1, respectively. Statistically, the principal component (PC) analysis indicates that higher loadings were recorded in Principal Component One (PC1) with large contribution from ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K. The leverage studies indicate that BN Ceramics (BNC) contributes more to the loadings in PC1 followed by Golden Crown Ceramic (GCC) sample. The mean values of 0.399 mSv y^?1 do not surpass the world average value of 0.7 mSv y^?1. The mean gamma index from the measured samples is 0.644, whereas a mean value of 0.271 for alpha index is noted in the samples. The activity utilization index (AUI) from the samples satisfied the AUI <2, which corresponded with the annual effective dose of <0.3 mSv y^?1, except interlock Site 2 and Gomez Spain tiles. Significantly, the mean value of excess lifetime cancer risk of 0.0014 is slightly lower than the world average value of 0.29 × 10^?3.