Study of the Radiological Doses in Karbala city

Background: Man-made radionuclides, which are present in environment, have been created by human activities and added to the inventory of natural radionuclides for example 3H, 131I, 129I, 137Cs, 90Sr and 239Pu, in spite of the amount added is little compared to natural quantities. The aim of this study is to estimate the levels of radiological doses in the soil samples collected from different locations in Kerbala city, Iraq. Materials and Methods: Thirty soil samples were collected from different sites of Karbala city and gamma-ray spectroscopy system with NaI (Tl) "1.5×2" detector in low-background and 24 hours used to achieve the results. Results: The average values of absorbed gamma-ray dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent and annual gonadal dose equivalent were found to be 14.09±0.32, 19.59±0.39 and 112.81±2.25 respectively. The average values of gamma representative level index and external hazard index resulting from natural radionuclides for all samples in the study area were 0.25±0.005 and 0.09±0.002 respectively. Conclusion: The obtained results in current work were compared with some results of soil samples in literature over the world. They do not exceed the upper limit calculated by UNSCEAR reports.