Estimation of radiation exposure in environmental soil samples from thirumullavaram coastal region, Kerala Soniya S.R.*, Monica S., Jojo P. J. Center for Advanced Research in Physical Sciences, Department of Physics, Fatima Mata National College (Autonomous), Kollam, India *Corresponding author
Online published on 24 May, 2018. Abstract The objective of this analysis was to find out the activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of soil samples collected from Thirumullavaram coastal region of Kerala and to calculate the radiological effect caused by this radioactivity. The activity concentrations of this natural radionuclide were measured using gamma-spectroscopy system having NaI(Tl) scintillators. The activity concentrations for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K, from the selected samples, ranged from below detectable level to 15.23±2 BqKg−1, 21.59±3 BqKg−1, 60.23±7 BqKg−1 for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K, respectively. Radium equivalent activities, absorbed dose rate, Indoor and Outdoor annual effective dose rate and the values of hazard indices were calculated for the measured samples to assess the radiation hazards. The results show that the entire sample possesses radiation hazards well below the safe limit. Hence the probability of occurrence of any of the health effects of radiation is low. Hence, measurements have been taken as representing baseline values of these radionuclides contain in the soil of this studying area. Top Keywords Soil, Specific activity, Hazard indices, Gamma ray spectrometry. Top |