ミネラルウォーターのウラン・トリウム濃度

抄録

Concentrations of uranium and thorium in commercial bottled mineral waters (81 domestic and 11 foreign products) have been analyzed using ICP-MS. Domestic bottled mineral waters exhibit very wide range of the uranium concentrations (0.1–3300 ng/L). However uranium concentrations of most samples were below 100 ng/L. There is no obvious correlation between the values of hardness and the uranium concentrations of the domestic bottled mineral waters. The uranium concentrations of foreign bottled mineral waters tended to be much higher than those of domestic ones (up to 4000 ng/L), and the values of hardness correlate roughly with the uranium concentration. It may be due to interactions between limestone and groundwater. Thorium concentrations of both domestic and foreign bottled mineral waters are typically less than 3.0 ng/L. Concentrations of uranium and thorium in bottled mineral waters were greatly lower than provisional guideline values defined by WHO. Therefore, it can be considered that there is no health risk chemically/radioactively induced by natural uranium and thorium in commercial mineral waters currently available in Japan, especially in Kyoto City.