Study of Natural Radionuclides in Soil Samples From Kufa City, Annjaf AL-Ashraf Governorate
Research has been done on the naturally occurring radioactivity of the earth formations in the soil of the Kufa city, in the governorate of Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf. Currently, it consists of the historic city's core, the northern and southern portions, to calculate the level of radioactivity present and the degree to which it affects the local population these areas using gamma-ray spectroscopy NaI(Tl) (3"×3"), spectral measurements were obtained by choosing 30 sites for soil samples from the area. The specific activity of 232Th, 40K, and 238U in the investigated ranges between (28.402±1.015) Bq/kg in old city to (5.076±0.368) Bq/kg in south part with average (10.634) Bq/kg to (9.391) Bq/kg , (27.431±0.982) Bq/kg in north part to (5.019±0.415) Bq/kg in south part with average (18.785) Bq/kg to (18.078) Bq/kg, (380.580±3.725) Bq/kg in south part to (103.455±1.982) Bq/kg in old city with average (332.235) Bq/kg to (245.153) Bq/kg. As per radium equivalent, it was between (74.771) Bq/kg in south part to (34.200) Bq/kg in old city with average (60.825) Bq/kg to(49.551) Bq/kg , the external hazard index, however, varied from (0.201) in south part Bq/kg to (0.092) Bq/kg in old city with average (0.164) Bq/kg to (0.133) Bq/kg moreover, the activity concentration index varied from ( 0.568) Bq/kg in south part to (0.263) Bq/kg in old city with average (0.464) Bq/kg to (0.374) Bq/kg. The radiation levels of the investigated samples were found to be within allowable limits when the current results were compared with the values that are taken into consideration internationally