Soil radioactivity atlas of Kuwait

Abstract

Background radionuclide concentrations in surface soil (5 cm loop) across Kuwait were measured by gamma spectroscopy with a HPGe detector. These measurements were made as part of a program for assessment of radiation doses from natural sources for the Kuwait population. The sampling program provided background information at 83 sites in different geological formations. The nationwide average concentrations in Bq/kg were as follows: for 40K - 332 ± 104 Bq/kg (arithmetic 50), for 226Ra - 11.8 ± 4.0 Bq/kg, for 238U - 13.3 ± 5.0 Bq/kg, for 232Th - 10.0 ± 3.4 Bq/kg, and for 137Cs - 2.6 ± 2.6 Bq/kg. The average concentrations of 232Th and 238U radionuclides were lower than the world average since a large area of Kuwait is covered with desert sandy soil. In most cases, the daughter radionuclides of uranium and thorium series were found almost in radioactive equilibrium. On the basis of these measurements and dose rate per unit concentration in soil adopted from UNSCEAR (1989), the average absorbed dose rate in the air (at 1 m height) from the gamma field of primordial radionuclides was estimated at 0.23 mGy per y for Kuwait.