Natural Activity assessment for soil samples in various buildings of the University of Kufa, Iraq

Abstract

People are continuously exposed to background radiation, or ambient radioactivity, from radionuclides that are manufactured or naturally occurring. One of the biggest sources of terrestrial radiation is soil. This study uses gamma-ray spectroscopy with "3 x 3" NaI (Tl) crystal to investigate soil samples collected from different buildings at University of Kufa in the Al-Najaf governorate of Iraq to evaluate the concentrations of natural radionuclides of  ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K as well as radiological hazard factors. The average activity values for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in unit of Bq kg^-1 were 15.37±4.85, 12.76±2.81, and 260.10±83.47, respectively. External hazard (H_ex), absorbed dose rate (D_r), annual effective dose outside (AEDE), and cancer risk (ELCR×10^-3) were among the radiological risk indicators with average values of 0.14±0.03, 25.66±5.95 nGy/h, 0.16±0.04 mSv/year, and 0.11±0.03 respectively All specific activities result for natural radionuclides and radiological hazard parameters in the research area were found to be under the worldwide limit.