Radiological Monitoring and Statistical Analysis of 238U, 232Th, and 40K at Abu Dabbab Albite Granite Mining Area, Central Nubian Shield, Egypt

Abstract

Field and laboratory gamma measurements were performed for sur­face, adit, and core samples from Gabal Abu Dabbab albite granite Ta-Nb-Sn min­ing area, which is located some 50 km northwest of Marsa Alam city within the central Nubian Shield of Egypt. The field measurements were taken by portable RS-230 γ-ray spectrometer and the laboratory spectrometric analysis were ver­ified by HPGe detector for 238 U, 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K (Bq/kg) in the studied sam­ples to assess their radiation hazards. The natural radioactivity levels of surface samples maximized to 94.68, 61.64, 45.10, and 1051.62 Bq/kg for 238 U, 226 Ra, ³²Th, and ⁴⁰ K respectively, whereas adit and core samples reached 206.47, 113.16, 198.7, and 939.43 Bq/kg respectively. Almost all values of radiation haz­ard indices in the studied samples were under the health hazard limits. A com­parison of radiological and safety impact parameters on humans due to primor­dial radioactivity in the studied samples with some internationally approved val­ues. In addition, statistical analysis of primordial radionuclides of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K was performed to evaluate the distribution and the interrelation of radi­onuclides. Statistical depicting groups, two sample comparison tests ( t-test and Mann-Whitney W-tests ), summary statistics of the measurements, as well as health hazard indices, were used for evaluation.