Estimating the natural and artificial radioactivity in soil samples from some oil sites in Kirkuk-Iraq using high resolution gamma rays spectrometry

Abstract

The natural and artificial radioactivity in soil samples from some oil sites of Kirkuk-Iraq have been estimated using a gamma spectrometry based on a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector. For this reason, soil samples have been collected from four sites; Henjera, Jabel Boor, Jambor and Qutan. It was found that the specific activity ranged from 7.31 to 63.33 Bq kg⁻¹ for ²²⁶Ra, from 3.54 to 42.95 Bq kg⁻¹ for ²³²Th, from 103.21 to 798.52 Bq kg⁻¹ for ⁴⁰K and from 0.7 to 9.53 Bq kg⁻¹ for ¹³⁷Cs. The results have been compared with the worldwide average values. The radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq), the absorbed gamma dose rate (D), the annual effective dose rate (AEDE), the external hazard (H_ex), the internal hazard (H_in) and Gamma radiation representative level Index (I_γ) have also been calculated. The Ra_eq was 92.173 Bq kg⁻¹, the D was 45.53 nGyh^-1, the AEDE outdoor and indoor were 0.0959 and 0.224, respectively, the H_ex was 0.242, the H_in was 0.329, and I_γ was 0.680. It has been concluded that no harmful radiation effects have posed to the population who live in the study area. Although, there are some areas where radiation effects have resulted higher than that of the international allowable radiation values.