Study the contamination of Radioactivity levels of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in (water)Iraq and their potential radiological risk to human population

Abstract

In this study, the level of natural radioactivity in the banks of the Euphrates River was evaluated of four sites for the passage of the Euphrates(Al Kufa, Abu Sukhair, Al Mishkhab and Al Qadisiyah), as samples were collected along the Euphrates River within the province of Najaf. The radioactivity of naturally formed radioactive materials of Uranium-238 and Thorium-232 series soluble strands in addition to the Potassium -40 radioisotope was determined using the NaI (Tl) sodium iodide reagent system (3"x3"). The values of normal radioactivity were measured in units (Bq.L−1). Where was The concentration ranged from 16.44 to 143.88 (Bq.L−1)for 40K,0.90 to 6.16 (Bq.L−1) for 238U and 1.17 to 5.29 (Bq.L−1) for 232Th. The radium equivalent activity was below the defined limit of 370 (Bq.L−1),the calculated exterior hazard indices had been determined to be much less than (one) from the results. Therefore that can be considered as database of these rivers in the future. Also we calculated that the average committed effective dose by ingestion of water for a typical adult was found to be 0.269 mSv.y−1 note that the average internal dose of 290 μSv.y−1 measured by the Scientific Committee of the United Nations on the Effects of Radiation for food and water consumption .finally we found out Excess lifetime cancer risk is 0.672*10−3 which is significantly less than the ICRP cancer risk of 2.5 × 10−3 which mean that the samples are safe healthy.