External and internal exposure to natural radiations inside ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara

Abstract

Some ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara are closed for visit to undergo fixation processes. The workers inside these tombs exposed to natural radiations from natural Gamma emitters (external exposure) and inhale unknown radon doses (internal exposure) for long periods. The external exposure in all studied tombs is lower than the maximum recommended action level. The internal exposure in terms of annual effective dose in the south tomb is equal to 28.83 mSv/year which highly exceed the recommended level (3– 10 mSv / year ). In this tomb, the external exposure is equal to 21.43 μ Sv / year . This reflects the hazards of radon over the other natural radiations in the closed area. Among the workers inside the studied tombs, the expected morality is equal to 0.0033%, 0.0199% and 0.0724% for the south entrance of Zoser pyramid, the Serapeum tomb, and the south tomb respectively.