Measurement of activity concentration levels of radionuclides in soil samples collected from Bethlehem Province, West Bank, Palestine

Abstract

In this study, we report on the activity concentrations of 238 U, 232 Th, 40 K, and 137 Cs in 50 soil samples of Bethlehem Province, West Bank, Palestine. Gamma-ray spectroscopy was employed to perform the measurements using an HPGe detector. On one hand, the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were found to vary from 12.7 to 122.3 Bq kg -1 with an average value of 41.4 Bq kg -1 for 238 U, from 2.0 to 32.2 Bq kg -1 with an average value of 19.5 Bq kg -1 for 232 Th, and from 12.0 to 183.8 Bq kg -1 with an average value of 113.3 Bq kg -1 for 40 K. On the other hand, the activity concentrations of the artificial 137 Cs radionuclide were found between 1.0 and 12.2 Bq kg -1, with an average value of 2.8 Bq kg -1. The variations of the assessed radiological hazard parameters indices Ra eq, D r, H ex, and I γ of natural radionuclides were found to be as follows: 16-148, 7-65, 0.04-0.4, and 0.11-1.00, respectively. The results were found to be comparable to or lower than similar reported data worldwide. Accordingly, the investigated soil zones can be considered to have normal levels of natural background radiation.