The activity concentrations of radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of soil samples in the case of Metekel Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

In this paper, we have studied the concentration levels and corresponding radiological hazard indices of natural radioactive elements such as radium-226, thorium-232, and potassium-40 in soil samples collected from Metekel Zone, Ethiopia. We have determined the concentration levels with the help of gamma ray spectrometry. Accordingly, we obtained the average values for radioactive concentrations of radium, thorium, and potassium to be 64 Bq/kg, 70 Bq/kg, and 330 Bq/kg, respectively. The radiological hazard has been also determined from the pertinent concentration levels of radium, thorium and potassium isotopes. Therefore, we obtained that the radioisotopes have heterogeneous distribution which must be caused by the nature and types of the soil in the area where this investigation was conducted for.