Natural Radioactivity Measurements of Basalt Rocks in Sidakan District Northeastern of Kurdistan Region-Iraq

Authors: Ali A. Ahmed, Mohammed I. Hussein

Abstract:

The amounts of radioactivity in the igneous rocks have been investigated; samples were collected from the total of eight basalt rock types in the northeastern of Kurdistan region/Iraq. The activity concentration of 226Ra (238U) series, 228Ac (232Th) series, 40K and 137Cs were measured using Planar HPGe and NaI(Tl) detectors. Along the study area the radium equivalent activities Raeq in Bq/Kg of samples under investigation were found in the range of 22.16 to 77.31 Bq/Kg with an average value of 44.8 Bq/Kg, this value is much below the internationally accepted value of 370 Bq/Kg. To estimate the health effects of this natural radioactive composition, the average values of absorbed gamma dose rate D (55 nGyh-1), Indoor and outdoor annual effective dose rates Eied (0.11 mSvy-1) . and Eoed (0.03 mSvy-1), External hazard index Hex (0.138) and internal hazard index Hin(0.154), and representative level index Iγr (0.386) have been calculated and found to be lower than the worldwide average values.

Keywords: Absorbed dose, activity concentration, igneousrocks, HPGe, NaI(TI), Natural Radioactivity.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1331251

References:

[1] Gwww.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/natural.html taken on 1/11/2002.
[2] Alias A. et al., The Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences, Vol. 12, No. 1, (2008).
[3] Mahur A. K. et al., Indian journal of Pure & Applied Physics, Vol. 48, July (2010), pp. 486-492.
[4] Yang Ya-Xin. et al., Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 63 (2005) 255- 259.
[5] Jasaitis D., and Girgždys A., Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, Vol. XV, No. 1, (2007), pp. 313-7.
[6] Ward G.M., Johnson J.E., and Wilson D.W., Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, Vol. 81, No.7, (1966).
[7] Erbil Governorate Profile, Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU), July (2009).
[8] Germanium Detectors, User-s Manual, Canberra Industries, Inc., (1989).
[9] Hassan H. I., and Mheemeed A. Kh., Damascus University Journal for Basic Sciences Vol. 24, No. 2, (2008).
[10] Sujo L.C. et al., Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 77 (2004) 205- 219.
[11] Diab H. M. et al., Journal of Nuclear and Radiation Physics, Vol. 3, No. 1, (2008), pp. 53-62.
[12] Harb S. et al., Proceedings of the 3rd Environmental Physics Conference, 19-23 Feb. (2008), Aswan, Egypt.
[13] Bé M. -M. et al., Table of Radionuclides, Vol. 2-A=151 to 242, (2004).
[14] Bé M. -M. et al., Table of Radionuclides, Vol. 4-A=133 to 252, (2008).
[15] http://www.nucleide.org/DDEP_WG/Nuclides/Cs-137_tables.pdf, 2/2007.
[16] http://www.nucleide.org/DDEP_WG/Nuclides/K-40_tables.pdf, 3/6/2009.
[17] Auble R. L. et al., Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 21, No. 4, (1977).
[18] Tuli J. K., Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 49, No. 1, (1986).
[19] Maphoto K. P., M. Sc. Thesis, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, (2004).