Assessment of natural radioactivity hazards in selected water samples collected from northern regions of Oman

Abstract

This study explores the radioactivity hazards in water samples collected from the Northern regions of Oman. The naturally occurring radioactive nuclides of the main series, 238U, 232Th, 235U and 40k have been studied by means of low level gamma spectroscopy. Majority of the studied valleys (wadis) are descending from Super Hajar Mountains either towards its east part (coastal area) or the west part (desert). Water samples were analyzed by applying the same analysis technique and ranges of concentrations of 238U, 232Th, 235U and 40K were found to be (0.35-1.7), (<DL-0.17), (0.01-0.18) and (0.26-0.91) all in Bq.L-1 respectively. The radiological hazards, D, HR and Raeq were calculated and found at ranges (0.21-7.94) nGy/h, (3.0-9.0)*10−4 mSv/yr and (0.02-3.6) Bq.L−1 respectively. The Hin, Hex and Iγr results were less than 1. The assessment of radioactivity in water samples showed values lower than world-wide average according to (WHO. The results indicate that the radiation hazard from naturally and artificially radionuclides in water samples from the area studied in this current work is barely significant.