The Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 15 No 2 (2011): 159 – 166

 

 

 

MEASUREMENT OF ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra AND ⁴⁰K IN SOIL IN DISTRICT OF KUALA KRAI USING GAMMA SPECTROMETRY

 

Zaini Hamzah¹, Siti Afiqah Abdul Rahman^1*, and Ahmad Saat²

 

¹Faculty of Applied Sciences,

 ²Institute of Science,

Universiti Teknologi MARA,

 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: siti_afiqah@ymail.com

 

 

Abstract

The granitic region is known to have high natural radionuclides content. The natural background of the area will be elevated and the exposure rate also will be higher as compared to other region. The present study is focusing on the presence of natural uranium isotopes using its progenies in soils belong to the river basin of the granitic region of Kuala Krai district, Malaysia. Granitic characteristics of the region were believed to produce significant concentrations of natural radionuclide such as uranium and thorium. This paper presents the results of measurement activity concentration ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra and ⁴⁰K in soil using Gamma Spectrometry to estimate activity concentration of radionuclides in fourteen soil samples collected from this study area. The range of activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra and ⁴⁰K is 40.2-264.0, 49.2-312.9 and 491.1-1184.2 Bq/kg respectively. These results were used to estimate the hazards index and annual exposure rate to the member of public.

 

Keywords: ²³⁸U activity concentration, granitic region, gamma spectrometer

 

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