Abstract

The present work deals with the measurement of concentrations and distributions of natural radionuclide γ-ray activities, produced by 40K, 226Ra, 238U and 232Th, in coastal soils of Koam Mashaal area, Northern Egypt. Besides, the radiation doses that would be delivered to living beings from such soils were calculated. Moreover, external and internal hazard indices, radium equivalents, and annual activities were computed. For this purpose, a total of 57 field samples were collected from the surface till a depth of 50 cm. These samples were analysed using high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The concentrations were determined for 40K (range from 114 to 313 Bqkg-1), 226Ra (range from 12 to 234.7 Bqkg-1), 238U (range from 5.5 to 211 Bqkg-1) and 232Th (range from 12.7 to 149.7 Bqkg-1), with their mean values reaching 200.68±4.68Bq/kg, 74.18±6.17Bq/kg, 94.25±6.01Bq/kg and 78.12±4.65Bq/kg respectively. Moreover, gamma–absorbed dose rates and radium equivalent activities were calculated for the analyzed samples to assess their radiation hazards arising from them. The annual effective dose equivalent rates in mSv/y due to natural radioactivity was found to be in the range of 0.03 to 0.21 mSv/y with mean 0.12±0.01 mSv/y. The results of the present work were discussed and compared with international recommended values. Keywords:

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