Title: Radioactivity concentrations and dose assessment for agricultural soil samples around the Jordanian petroleum refinery in Zarqa, Jordan

Authors: Feras Afaneh; Mashour Al-Momani; Jamal Al-Jundi; Allayth Aldrabee; Hassan Juwhari

Addresses: Physics Department, The Hashemite University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan ' Physics Department, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan ' Physics Department, The Hashemite University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan ' Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, P.O. Box 70, Shafa Bdran, Amman 11934, Jordan ' Physics Department, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan

Abstract: The activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides (²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K) in the agricultural soils around the Jordanian petroleum refinery in Zarqa city, Jordan, were investigated. The soil samples were collected from three different agricultural regions (X, Y and Z). The ²³²Th activity concentration was found to be too low in all samples. The average activity concentrations in Bq/kg were found to be: 40.1±1.6 for ²³⁸U and 372.6±11.9 for ⁴⁰K in X-site, 38.3±1.9 for ²³⁸U and 486.4±15.0 for ⁴⁰K in Y-site, and 45.4±1.3 for ²³⁸U and 313.3±11.1 for ⁴⁰K in Z-site. Our findings are within the worldwide average values (UNSCEAR, 2000). The absorbed dose rates were calculated and found to be in the range of 20.86-47.62 nGy/h with an overall average value of 34.66 nGy/h. The average outdoor annual effective dose equivalent was estimated to be 41.13 ± 11.64 μSvy⁻¹ which is below the world average of 70 μSvy⁻¹.

Keywords: natural radioactivity; low radiation; dose assessment; agricultural soil samples; agriculture; petroleum refineries; HPGe detector; Jordan; natural radionuclides.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2016.081461

International Journal of Low Radiation, 2016 Vol.10 No.3, pp.234 - 243

Received: 30 Apr 2016
Accepted: 29 Aug 2016
Published online: 09 Jan 2017 *

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