Radiological risk assessment of fuel fabrication facility at Al- Tuwaitha nuclear site

Abstract

The specific activity of 29 soil samples collected from Fuel Fabrication Facility FFF at AL-Tuwaitha site, 20 km south of Baghdad were determined using HPGe detector in a low background configuration, it's relative efficiency of 40%,and resolution of 2keV for the 1332 keV gamma ray emission of 60Co. The range of activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were between (12.56-31.96), (10.2-18.4) and (47.47-402.1) Bq/kg respectively. In order to assess any radiological hazard to human health, the absorbed gamma dose rate D in air at 1m above the ground surface was calculated in the range (18.87 to 36.46) nGy/h; the outdoor annual effective dose equivalent AEDE was evaluated to vary from 0.0039 to 0.0076 mSv/y with the mean value 0.0059 mSv/y, this value comparable to the worldwide effective dose 0.48mSv/y.The Radium Equivalent Raeq for all samples were evaluated and were lower than the accepted safety limit value of 370 Bq/kg.The results indicated that the radiation of hazards from primordial radionudlides in all samples in this study is not significant.Raeq activities, Annual effective dose, External hazard index.

Keywords

The specific activity of 29 soil samples collected from Fuel Fabrication Facility FFF at AL-Tuwaitha site, 20 km south of Baghdad were determined using HPGe detector in a low background configuration, it's relative efficiency of 40%, and resolution of 2keV for the 1332 keV gamma ray emission of 60Co. The range of activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were between, 12.56-31.96, 10.2-18.4 and, 47.47-402.1 Bq/kg respectively. In order to assess any radiological hazard to human health, the absorbed gamma dose rate D in air at 1m above the ground surface was calculated in the range, 18.87 to 36.46 nGy/h, the outdoor annual effective dose equivalent AEDE was evaluated to vary from 0.0039 to 0.0076 mSv/y with the mean value 0.0059 mSv/y, this value comparable to the worldwide effective dose 0.48mSv/y.The Radium Equivalent Raeq for all samples were evaluated and were lower than the accepted safety limit value of 370 Bq/kg.The results indicated that the radiation of hazards from primordial radionudlides in all samples in this study is not significant.Raeq activities, Annual effective dose, External hazard index.