Uranium concentration measurement in soil for some northern Iraqi's regions by using CR-39 detector

Abstract

A concentration of uranium was measured in this study for twenty-four samples of soil distributed in six locations on the north part of Iraq. The uranium concentrations in soil samples measured by using fission tracks registration in (CR-39) track detector that caused by the bombardment of (U) with thermal neutrons from (241 Am-Be) neutron source that has flux of (5 ×103 n cm-2 s-1).The concentrations values were calculated by a comparison with standard samples. The results shows that the uranium concentrations in Darbandikhan City varies from (0.085-0.200 ppm), Halabja City (0.084-0.160 ppm), Al Sulaimaniya City (0.122-0.195 ppm), Koisnjaq City (0.125-0.298 ppm), Shaqlaua City (0.132-0.180 ppm) and Erbil City (0.129-0.294 ppm), the average uranium concentration in Al Sulaimaniya and Erbil governorate are (0.140 ppm) and (0.175 ppm) respectively. As a conclusion from the study uranium concentration in governorate of Erbil is relatively higher than that in governorate of Al Sulaimaniya.