NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY LEVELS IN SOIL SAMPLES OF SOME SCHOOLS IN AL-SHATRAH CITY AT DHI QAR GOVERNORATE, IRAQ

Abstract

In this article, natural radioactivity emitted from U, Th and K were measured in the samples of soil which were gathered from different schools of AlShatrah in Dhi Qar Governorate using Gama ray spectroscopy (NaI (Tl), "3×3" volume) technique. The radiation effects resulted from the exposure to radioactivity of the samples under study (e.g. radium equivalent parameter (Raeq), the absorbed dose rate (Dr), the external hazard (Hex) and the internal hazard (Hin) indices, and the representative gamma rays hazard index (Iγ)) were calculated. The annual effective dose (AEDE) together with Excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) index were also estimated. The results demonstrated that the averages of the specific activity of the U, Th and K were 10.85±1.34Bq/Kg, 5.81±0.66 Bq/Kg and 354.11±21.60 Bq/Kg, respectively. The average values of each of Raeq, Dr, Hex, Hin, Iγ, AEDEtotal and ELCR were 46.43±2.94 Bq/kg, 23.29±1.44 nGy/h, 0.125±0.007, 0.154±0.010, 0.366±0.022, 0.142±0.008 mSv/y and (0.499±0.030)×10 respectively. By comparing the resulted data of this study with that of the average world limits which have been established by UNSCEAR, OCDE and ICRP, one can concluded that there are no health risks threatening the residents of Shatrah due to these radionuclides exist in the soil.