Radioactivity levels in some urban areas of west of Iraq

Abstract

The soil is one of the most important environmental sources for human, animals and plants. The activity of radioactive substances including (²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ac and ⁴⁰K), was investigated.  Twenty surface soil samples were collected from different regions of Anbar province were collected during summer 2019. The soil sample was examined using gamma ray spectrometer based on a high counting efficiency NaI(TI) scintillation detector. The results showed that the radioactivity of 40K was 263.031 Bq/kg in sample S11 to 571.12 Bq/kg in S14; while the ²³²Th series was 0.2886 Bq/kg in S13 to 3.737 Bq/kg in S1. The radioactivity of ²³⁸U  series were 0.1047 Bq/kg in S6 to 1.1737 Bq/kg in S7. However, ¹³⁷Cs activity was 0.4 Bq/kg in S2 to 7.5 Bq/kg in S8. The result confirms that the level of all radio activities was in acceptable range and never affected on the integrity of the environment. The obtained data revealed that the mean specific activity for ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ac and ⁴⁰k in these samples were less than world thresholds average. But 40K activity was 571.12 Bq/kg in S14; this disparity in the values may due to the different depths that are the soil sample extracted. The study aimed to investigate the impacts of military activities on soil radioactivity; and the safety level of soil in Anbar province.