Determination of the Activity Concentrations of Radium Isotopes in Soils of Some Farms in the Saudi Eastern Province and Estimation of Radiation Dose

Abstract

In this study, Surveillance monitoring in nine farms at the eastern province in Saudi Arabia has been carried out to assess the radiological hazards from radium isotopes in soil. The 226Ra and 228Ra were measured by high purity germanium detector after been extracted from large volume irrigation water samples using strong cation exchange resin. The activity concentrations of 226Ra and 228Ra in the surface soil samples were measured by gamma spectrometry and their mean activities were 17.2 and 11.3 Bq/kg dry weight respectively. Good correlation was found between the radium content in soils and the sand component of the soil, and also between the combined radium isotopes (226Ra and 228Ra) in the irrigation water and soil. The absorbed dose rate from external gamma radiation due to the combined radium in soils and the corresponding annual effective dose were estimated and found to be lower than the corresponding world average values. On the basis of the current results, we may conclude that the presence of such activity of the combined radium isotopes in the soils of the investigated farms may not pose any radiological hazards to the public.