Ядерна фізика та енергетика Nuclear Physics and Atomic Energy   ISSN: 1818-331X (Print), 2074-0565 (Online)   Publisher: Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine   Languages: Ukrainian, English, Russian   Periodicity: 4 times per year   Open access peer reviewed journal

Full text (en)

Jamal K. Alsaedi, Nada M. Hasan^*, Ali A. Abdulhasan

Directorate of Nuclear Research and Applications, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq

^*Corresponding author. E-mail address: nada66_altai@yahoo.com

Abstract: The activity distribution of natural radionuclides ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs were determined in soil samples. The samples were collected from four different regions in Nineveh governorate north-west of Iraq (Tall Kayf, Badush, Al-Hamdaniya, Hammam Al-alil) and measured by the gamma-ray spectrometry with high purity germanium (HPGe) detector with relative efficiency 50 %. The specific radioactive activity of the samples was in the range of 1.75 - 45.56; 8.63 - 43.72; 147.92 - 502.49 and MDL - 69.32 Bq/kg, respectively, at the selected areas. The calculated hazard indices that estimate the potential radiological health risk such as radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq) were in the range 40.33 - 122.12 Bq/kg. The absorbed dose rate in the air was also calculated for the samples and it was in the range 20.51 - 56.72 nGy/h. External hazard index (H_ex) is in the range 0.11 - 0.33, internal hazard index (H_in) is in the range 0.13 - 0.4 and gamma index was 0.32 - 0.89. The annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE), annual gonadal dose equivalent (AGDE), and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) were also calculated and their ranges were 25.15 - 69.56; 151.63 - 396.05 and 0.09·10^-3 - 0.24·10^-3 respectively. This study showed that there is no radiation hazard to the public due to natural radionuclides in the selected areas.

Keywords: activity concentrations, gamma-ray spectrometry, hazard indices, natural radioactivity, HPGe detector.

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