Investigation of environmental radioactivity of soils in Hoveizeh border region

Natural and artificial radioactive nuclei exist in water, soil, stone and air, and all humans are exposed to nuclear radiation. Some human activities, such as application of the weapons containing depleted uranium in wars or nuclear accidents, cause an increased environmental radioactivity. Due to proximity of Hoveizeh region to the war zones in Iraq, it is important to study the radioactivity of soil in this region. In this study, 10 soil samples were collected from Hoveizeh region near the Iraqi border. The specific activities of radionuclides were determined using the gamma ray spectrometry method employing a high purity germanium detector (HPGe), GCD30195 model with 30% relative efficiency. The radium equivalent activity, internal and external hazard indices (Hin and Hext) and radiological parameters and Pearson correlation coefficient among the values of radium, thorium and potassium were calculated. The mean specific activities of 238U, 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs in the soil samples were obtained as 34.09, 34.96, 34.84, 384.68 and 5.64 in Bqkg-1 respectively. The values of Hin and Hext in the samples varied from 0.37 to 0.49 and from 0.25 to 0.37, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient between 226Ra and 232Th was obtained as 0.59 showing a moderate correlation. The average radium equivalent of the studied samples was obtained as 114.39 Bqkg-1 which is less than the world average value (131.69 Bqkg-1). All the quantities of radiological parameters were within the permissible level and close to the global average. No traces of depleted uranium were observed in the region.