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Assessment of the Level of Natural Radio Activity in Soil Samples Collected from El Minia, Egypt |
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PP: 181 -192 |
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doi:10.18576/jrna/040307
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Author(s) |
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Lamiaa Yehia,
A.A. Ahmad,
Mona Moustsafa,
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Abstract |
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| The knowledge of natural radioactivity content of the various radionuclides in the soil play an important role in the health physics because of the population exposure to the radiation. The exposure depends on the activity concentration of the naturally occurring radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, and 40K) which distributed in the soil. The study is devoted to assess the specific activity and to examine the radiation hazard indices of naturally occurring radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in soil samples (reclaimed, and under reclamation ) as well as Eastern desert from El-Minya governorate at different locations in El-Minya governorate. Measurements were carried out by γ-spectrometric method using 3״ x 3״ NaI(Tl) with 8192 multichannel analyzer(MCA). About 131 soil samples were collected, and stored in tight sealed containers for 4 weeks to reach seculer equilibrium. The results show that the activity concentrationfor reclaimed soil ranged from 9.39±0.46 Bq.kg-1 in Abo Qurqas to 20.78±1.04 Bq.kg-1 in Mattay with an average 13.92±0.71 Bq.kg-1 for 226Ra, while ranged from 7.37±0.37 Bq.kg-1 in Bani Mazar to 16.79±0.86 Bq.kg-1 in Mattay with an average 11.91±0.63 Bq.kg-1 for 232Th, and ranged from 124.68±6.23 Bq.kg-1 in Bani Mazar to 359.32±17.96 Bq.kg-1 in Mattay with average 193.55±9.67 Bq.kg-1 for 40K. The activity concentrations for under reclamation soil samples ranged from 5.32±0.27 Bq.kg-1 in Maghagha to 17.23±0.85 Bq.kg-1 in Mattay with an average 11.93±0.59 Bq.kg-1 for 226Ra, while ranged from 5.84±0.29 Bq.kg-1 in Abo Qurqas to 16.42±0.83 Bq.kg-1 in Mattay with an average 9.64±0.48 Bq.kg-1 for 232Th, and ranged from 116.54±5.82 Bq.kg-1 in Abo Qurqas to 250.38±12.52 Bq.kg-1 in Samallot with average 159.28±9.57 Bq.kg-1 for 40K. The activity concentrations of sandy soil ranged from 26.09±1.34 Bq.kg-1 to 37.47±1.97 Bq.kg-1 with an average 30.3±1.56 Bq.kg-1 for 226Ra, while ranged from 8.16±0.41Bq.kg-1 to 9.18±0.46 Bq.kg-1 with an average 8.52±0.44 Bq.kg-1 for 232Th, and ranged from 123.94±6.18 Bq.kg-1 to 148.03±7.39 Bq.kg-1 with average 136.93±6.83 Bq.kg-1 for 40K. The average dose rates and other calculated hazard indices were lower than the average national and world recommended values, therefore, did not pose health risks to the population of the area. |
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