STUDY OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY (226Ra, 232Th AND 40K) IN SOIL SAMPLES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF AVERAGE EFFECTIVE DOSE AND RADIATION HAZARDS.

The activity concentration of Ra-226 (radium), Th-232 (thorium) and K-40 (potassium) has been measured in the soil samples collected from Mansa and Muktsar districts of Punjab (India) using NaI (Tikl) gamma detector. The concentration of three radionuclides (Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40) in the studied area has been varied from 18 +/- 4 to 46 +/- 5, 53 +/- 7 to 98 +/- 8 and 248 +/- 54 to 756 +/- 110 Bq kg(-1), respectively. Radium equivalent activities (Ra-eq) have been calculated in soil samples for the assessment of the radiation hazards arising due to the use of these soil samples. The absorbed dose rate of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 in studied area has been varied from 8 to 21, 33 to 61 and 9 to 25 nGy h(-1), respectively. The corresponding indoor and outdoor annual effective dose in studied area was 0.38 and 0.09 mSv, respectively. The external and internal hazard has been also calculated for the assessment of radiation hazards in the studied area.