Assessment of Natural Radioactivity of Soil Sample in Selected Locations of Basrah Governorate

Wejood. Tuama Saadon¹, Abdul R. H. Subber^2, and Hussain. A. Hussain¹

¹Department of Physics College of Science, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

²Department of Physics College of Education for Pure Sciences, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

Cite this paper:
Wejood. Tuama Saadon, Abdul R. H. Subber and Hussain. A. Hussain. Assessment of Natural Radioactivity of Soil Sample in Selected Locations of Basrah Governorate. International Journal of Physics. 2016; 4(2):32-36. doi: 10.12691/ijp-4-2-2

Abstract

The concentration levels of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in soil have a great concern in the recent decades, due to its effect on the human health. The radioactivity of some soil samples taken from selected locations in Basrah Governorate have been measured using a NaI(Tl) detector based on gamma ray spectroscopy. Radium equivalent activity, external and internal hazard indices associated with the natural radionuclide were calculated to assess the radiation hazard of the natural radioactivity on the occupiers. The present investigation shows that the level of natural radioactivity for ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in such soil is well below the acceptable limits, while ²²⁶Ra is higher. From the analysing the results, it was found that soil in the area does not possess any health hazard to the inhabitant.

Keywords:
natural radioactivity Basrah Governorate NaI(Tl) detector Radium equivalent activity

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