Environmental investigation on radiation of Bauxite and Red Mud from bauxite processing in Jajarm Bauxite mine and calculation of red mud mixing ratio for using in construction material.

Minerals, depending on their composition and origin, contain some radioactive nuclides. Presence of such radionuclides such as 238U, 232Th and 40K in materials are dangerous when they are highly concentrated and influence on human exposure. Bauxites as a raw material for aluminum may contain relatively high amount of those radionuclides, which are more concentrated in remained red-mud after Al production process.  Due to high existing of iron oxides in the red-mud, it is preferred to be used in recycled products such as cement and brick. Because of high amount of radionuclides in red-mud, its radioactivity should be determined and decrease their environmental impact before using in industry. Therefore, radiation of red muds from Jajarm bauxite mine, which is the biggest bauxite deposit in Iran (with 1000000 tones red-mud annual production), have been determined in this study. Finally, after determination of average radiation of Jajarm red-mud, the mixing ratio of red-mud to low-radiation materials (such as clay minerals) was calculated for using in construction materials, under standard level of radiation.