J. SULTANA1*, T. ISLAM2, D. PAUL3 and M. I. ALI4
1=Professor Dr. Jolly Sultana, Department of Physics, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Khulna, 2=Tuhina Islam, MSc Student, Department of Physics, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Khunla, 3Dr. Debasish Paul, Chief Scientific Officer and Head, Health Physics Division, Atomic Energy Center, Saver, Dhaka Bangladesh and 4Dr. Md. Idris Ali, Chief Scientific Officer, Health Physics Division, Atomic Energy Center, Saver, Dhaka Bangladesh. *Corresponding author’s Email: jsa_kuet@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The study was conducted at the Department of Physics, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Khulna, Bangladesh during April to June 2015. The radionuclide contents and their activity concentrations in soil samples collected from in and around of Rupsha river, Khulna, Bangladesh have been determined by using a High Resolution Germanium detector (HPGe) of 20% relative efficiency. A total of 10 samples have been collected and analyzed. Radio activities have been determined by using a High Resolution Germanium detector (HPGe) at Health Physics, Atomic Energy Commission, Saver, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in the soil samples of the Rupsha river side area have been found to be varied from 42.99 ± 8.60 to 53.92 ± 7.86 Bq.kg-1, 64.90 ± 6.60 to 94.16 ± 6.74 Bq.kg-1 and 581.02 ± 77.66 to 1098.50 ± 124.90 Bq.kg-1 respectively with an average value of 50.16 ± 7.20 Bq.kg-1, 77.23 ± 7.43 Bq.kg-1 and 864.63±101.69 Bq.kg-1 respectively. The results for the soil samples obtained for the corresponding nuclides are slightly higher than the worldwide average value. On the other hand, the values of external hazard index for soil samples varied 0.52 to 0.67 with the average value of 0.61. The values are less than unity in all the samples that indicate the non-hazardous nature of the samples and there is no possibility of immediate health effect on the workers, public and environment.
Keywords: Natural radionuclides, Soil, Activity concentrations, External hazard index and Harmful.