Natural radioactivity and radiological effects in soil samples of the main electrical stations at Babylon Governorate

Abstract

The natural radionuclides namely 238U, 232Th and 40K for soil samples collected from locations of Alexandria and Musayyib electrical stations were measured. In addition, the radiological effects were calculated for all samples chosen in this study. The technique used in this study was gamma-ray spectrometry to estimate the natural radioactivity of twenty samples at the study area of the above-mentioned electrical stations. The results show that the specific activity of Alexandria samples of 238U were varied from 13.3 - 17.2 Bq/kg with an average of 15.4 ± 0.5 Bq/kg, 232Th were varied from 5.0 - 9.6 Bq/kg with an average of 6.2 ± 0.4 Bq/kg and 40K were varied from 244.3 - 330.5 Bq/kg with an average of 293.0 ± 8.4 Bq/kg. But in Musayyib, the results of 238U, 232Th and 40K were varied from 10.0 - 18.7 Bq/kg with an average of 13.9 ± 0.9 Bq/kg, from 4.8 - 7.4 Bq/kg with an average of 6.0 ± 0.3 Bq/kg and from 207.5 - 294.2 Bq/kg with an average of 269.5 ± 8.6 Bq/kg respectively. Also, it is found that the average of radiological effects like the radium equivalent (Raeq), the absorbed dose Rate (Dr), external hazard index (Hex), internal hazard index (Hin), representative gamma hazard index (Iγ), the total annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) and the excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) due to natural radioactivity in soil samples of Alexandria stations were 46.82 ± 2.10 Bq/kg, 23.27 ± ± 0.673 nGy/h, 0.126 ± 0.005, 0.167 ± 0.004, 0.359 ± 0.01, 0.142 ± 0.005 mSv/y and 0.499 ± 0.018 · 10-3 respectively, while for Musayyib were 43.29 ± 2.51 Bq/kg, 21.52 ± 0.719 nGy/h, 0.116 ± 0.004, 0.154 ± 0.006, 0.332 ± 0.011, 0.132 ± 0.005 mSv/y and 0.462 ± 0.019 · 10-3 respectively. When comparing the results in the study area with the world mean values specified by the UNSCEAR, OECD and ICRP, it can be concluded that no health risk may threaten the workers in the center of these locations due to these radionuclides in the soil of the study area.