Gamma radiation measurements of naturally occurring radioactive samples from commercial Egyptian granites

Due to the widespread use of granites as building and ornamental materials, measurements of natural radioactivity for a total 27 selected samples of commercial granites used in Egypt were carried out by using a high pure germanium detector. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of comm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental earth sciences 2012-10, Vol.67 (3), p.771-775
Main Author: Amin, Rafat M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
absorbed dose
Biogeosciences
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Environmental Science and Engineering
gamma radiation
Gamma rays
Geochemistry
Geology
Germanium
Granite
Hydrology/Water Resources
Measurement techniques
Original Article
Radiation
Radiation measurement
Radioactivity
radionuclides
Radium
Samples
Stone
Terrestrial Pollution
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Summary:Due to the widespread use of granites as building and ornamental materials, measurements of natural radioactivity for a total 27 selected samples of commercial granites used in Egypt were carried out by using a high pure germanium detector. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of commercial granites ranged from 25 to 356, 5 to 161, and 100 to 1,796 (Bq kg−1), respectively. The concentrations of these radionuclides are compared with the international recommended values. To evaluate the radiological hazard of the natural radioactivity, the radium equivalent activity, the absorbed dose rate, the effective dose rate, and the hazard index have been calculated. The radium equivalent activity Raeq varied from 41 to 669 (Bq kg−1) which exceeds the permitted value (370 Bq kg−1) and the internal hazard index H in varied from 0.2 to 2.8 which is higher than 1. The absorbed dose rate due to the natural radioactivity in the samples under investigation ranged from 19 to 310 (nGy h−1). The total effective dose rates per person indoors were determined to be 0.09 to 1.5 (mSv year−1).
ISSN:1866-6280
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s12665-012-1538-x