Natural Radioactivity of Soil Samples from the Abu Sakhir- Najaf (Iraq) by Using Gamma Spectroscopy

Abstract

This work aims to measure the concentrations of radionuclides of natural radioactivity of the elements of uranium series (Bi-214 & Ra-226), thorium (Tl-208 and Pb-212), and Potassium-40 and industrial isotope Cesium-137 using gamma spectroscopy.High purity detector Germanium (HPGe) with efficiency (50 %) and the ability of the analysis (2.2 keV) for energy 1332 keV belong to 60Co. This detector connected to ICS -PCI card as multi- channel analyzer. The results of the specific activity Ra-226 ranged between 89.46- 368.52Bq/kg while Bi-214 had a range of 22.74 -48.65 Bq/kg.However, Tl-208 gave a range of 18.66 -40.61 Bq/kg and Pb-212 values varied from 18.56to 44.13Bq/kg. In case of potassium-40, the values ranged between 181.59 -926.58 Bq/kg. For the cesium-137 has ranged from 7.36to12.94 Bq/kg. In general, the results that have been obtained are within the allowable range but higher than those of the worldwide average for the concentration of uranium and close to worldwide average for other radionuclides, and this is due to the nature of the geological composition of the area.