Determination of Natural Radioactivity Levels and Radiation Hazards for Soil Samples from Aurangabad Maharashtra-India. (original) (raw)

2018, JOURNAL OF MULTIFACETED AND MULTILINGUAL STUDIES

The activity concentrations of radionuclides 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in soil samples collected from different locations of Aurangabad were determined using gamma ray spectrometry system NaI (Tl) detector. The aim of this study is to determine the level of natural radioactivity and associated radiological hazard caused by natural radioactivity in soil samples. We analyzed the spectra of samples using a multichannel analyzer (MCA) connected with the measurement system for this purpose. Activity concentrations of 226 Ra , 232 Th and 40 K were determined in Bq.kg-1 and radiation hazard indices were calculated. The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were found to vary from 7.425 to 12.862 Bq kg-1 with an average value of 9.189 Bq kg-1 for 226 Ra, from 18.898 to 21.316 Bq k-1 with an average value of 20.176 Bq kg-1 for 232 Th, and from 60.508 to 120.142 Bqkg-1 with an average value of 94.464 Bq kg-1 for 40 K. The concentrations of these radionuclides are compared with the values of the control samples and the UNSCEAR, 2000 standards of 35.0, 30.0 and 400 Bq/kg for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K respectively. The measured activity concentration of 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K in soil samples is lower than the world average. The variations of the assessed radiological hazard parameters indices Raeq, Iγ, Hex, Hin, Eff and Dr of natural radionuclides were found to be as follows: 39.891-50.638 Bq k-1 , 0.286-0.363, 0.108-0.137, 0.128-0.172, 0.022-0.028 msvy-1 and 17.792-22.825 nGyh-1 respectively. The results were comparable to reported data worldwide. Thus all the samples studied exhibit radiation well within the permissible limit and have normal levels of natural background radiation. We can conclude that the soil area under study can be used as building materials.