Assessment the Natural Radioactivity of Radionuclides  ( 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs) in Wheat Grain

Zakariya A. Hussein; Najeba F. Salih; Shalaw Z. Sedeeq

doi:10.14500/aro.10736

Zakariya A. Hussein Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Health, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region - F.R. Iraq https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8120-6550
Najeba F. Salih Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Health, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region - F.R. Iraq http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6157-9560
Shalaw Z. Sedeeq Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Health, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region - F.R. Iraq https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1524-4599

Keywords: Natural radioactivity, Wheat Grain, Radionuclides, 226Ra, 137Cs

Abstract

This paper investigates the activity concentration of radionuclides (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs) in the wheat grain samples using a high-purity germanium detector. Thirty-six wheat grain samples were collected from different locations of Koya City, Iraqi Kurdistan region. Average activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in wheat grain are found to be 0.407 ± 0.097 Bq.kg^-1 for ²²⁶Ra, 0.36 ± 0.14 Bq.kg^-1 for ²³²Th and 109.25± 2.214 Bq.kg^-1 for ⁴⁰K, respectively. The measured activity concentrations for the radionuclides are compared with the reported data from other countries. In addition, the fallout radionuclide of ¹³⁷Cs has no detection of in the wheat grain samples. The radium equivalent activity Raeq, internal and external hazard indices Hin and Hex, and annual gonadal dose equivalent are calculated for the measured samples. The total ingestion dose is 113.19 µSv.y^-1, which is below the world average value of 290 µSv.y^-1.

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Author Biographies

Zakariya A. Hussein, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Health, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region - F.R. Iraq

Zakariya Adel Hussein is an Assistant Prof. at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Health, Koya University. He got the B.Sc. degree in Physics Science, the M.Sc. degree in Radiation Physics and the Ph.D. degree in Radiation in medical Physics. His research interests are in Radiation Physics, Medical Physics, Environment and Radioactivity.

Najeba F. Salih, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Health, Koya University, Koya KOY45, Kurdistan Region - F.R. Iraq

Dr. Najeba F. Salih is an Assistant Prof., joined the Department of Physics at Koya University in 2008. She has a B.Sc. degree in Physics from University of Salahadden, Erbil, Iraq, M.Sc. degree in Radiation physics from Koya University, Erbil, Iraq and Ph.D. degree in Radiation Dosimetry and Radiation Protection in Medical Physics from Universiti Sains Malaysi. She has a Pd.S. in Nuclear Radiation and Gamma Spectrometers in Medical Physics from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Dr. Najeba has many scientific publications; (41) Journal Articles and (5) conference papers. Her research interests include; Medical Physics, Nuclear Radiation, Radioactivity, Radiation Protection, Dosimeter applications.

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Assessment the Natural Radioactivity of Radionuclides ( 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs) in Wheat Grain

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