Журнал наук о Земле и изменения климата

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Assessment of Natural and Artificial Radioactivity Levels and Radiation Hazards and their Relation to Heavy Metals in the Industrial Area of Port Said City, Egypt

Attia TE, Shendi EH and Shehata MA

A detailed gamma ray spectrometry survey was carried out to make an action in environmental impact assessment of urbanization and industrialization on Port Said city, Egypt. The concentrations of the measured radioelements U-238, Th-232 in ppm, and K-40 %, in addition to the total counts of three selected randomly dumping sites (A, B and C) were mapped. The concentration maps represent a base line for the radioactivity in the study area in order to detect any future radioactive contamination. These concentrations are ranging between 0.2 to 21 ppm for U-238 and 0.01 to 13.4 ppm for Th-232 as well as 0.15 to 3.8 % for K-40, whereas the total count values range from 8.7 to 123.6Ur. Moreover, the dose rate was mapped using the same spectrometer and survey parameters in order to assess the radiological effect of these radioelements. The dose rate values range from (0.12 to 1.61mSv/year). Eighteen soil samples were collected from the sites with high radioelement concentrations and dose rates to determine the activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 using HPGe spectrometer. The activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 in the measured samples range from 18.03 to 398.66 Bqkg-1, 5.28 to 75.7 Bqkg-1 and 3237.88 to 583.12 Bqkg-1 respectively. In addition to analyze heavy metal for two high reading samples (a1 and a10) which give concentrations of Cd and Zn elements (a1: 40 ppm and a10: 42 ppm) and (a1: 0.90 ppm and a10: 0.97 ppm) respectively that are in the range of phosphate fertilizer products that very suggested as a dumped man-made waste in the site "A". All indicate that the measured values for the soil samples in the two sites of three falls within the world ranges of soil in areas with normal levels of radioactivity, while site "A" shows a potential radiological risk for human beings, and it is important to carry out a specifically detailed monitoring program periodically.