Evaluation of natural radioactivity of soil samples from different regions of Wassit governorate

ABSTRACT: The present paper measures natural radioactivity in different areas of Wassit governorate, using (HPGe) detector. Gamma spectrum analysis for each sample along with caululated specific activity show that the average concentrations of U-238, Th-232, and K-40 have been 19.420±4.7 Bq/kg, 18.487±5.05 Bq/kg, and 204.266±46.9 Bq/kg respectively, which is lower than the worldwide average value. While the average value of Radium equivalent, absorbed dose, indoor and outdoor annual effective dose, activity index, and internal and external hazard index for each sample have been found to be 85.182 Bq/kg, 39.962 nGy/h, 0.196 mSv/y, 0.049 mSv/y, 0.374, 0.313, 0.309, and 0.230 respectively, all of them are lower than the permissibility limit value.