Radioactivity levels, soil-to-grass and grass-to-milk transfer factor of natural radionuclides from grazing area in Erbil governorate, Iraq

Abstract

The levels of naturally occurring radionuclides in soil, grass, and milk were measured in this study in order to calculate the transfer factor of radionuclides from soil to grass and grass to milk obtained from Erbil governorate in Iraq. High efficiency gamma spectrometry used for the measurement. It has been determined that the mean activity concentrations of 232Th, 226Ra, and 40K are 3.08, 8.37, and 253 BqKg−1 in soil, 0.5, 0.39, and 203.05 BqKg−1, in grass, and 0.29, 0.084, and 29.69 BqL−1, in milk, respectively. For soil to grass, the transfer factor values for 232Th, 226Ra, and 40K were found to be 0.18, 0.052, and 0.84, respectively, for soil to grass. For grass to milk, the transfer factor values for 232Th, 226Ra, and 40K were found to be 0.45, 0.166, and 0.11 dayL−1, respectively. The average transfer factor for 232Th, 226Ra, and 40K in all samples were lower than the world average value.