Natural Radionuclides in Surface Soil and Quantification of Associated Radiological Hazards in Fatehabad and Hisar districts, Haryana, India

Abstract

Elevated levels of primordial radionuclides (²³⁸U/ ²³²Th- decay series and ⁴⁰ K) are the foremost source of higher background radiations. Natural radioactive elements may prove precariously radioactive in some situations. So, it is essential to quantify the natural levels of radioactivity in the soil to figure out how much the population is exposed to, what the health risks are, and have a starting point for figuring out how radioactivity in the environment will change due to human activities. In this study natural radioactivity in the soil of different residential areas of Fatehabad and Hisar districts in Haryana, India has been quantified. HPGe gamma spectrometry has been used to quantify the activity of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in the soil of the area under investigation. The respective activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K ranged 32 to 53 Bq kg⁻¹, 23 to 41 Bq kg^−1, and 402 to 610 Bq kg⁻¹. The activity equivalent to radium only (Ra_eq), the air absorbed dose rate (AAD), the effective dose equivalent rate(AEDEC), the gonadal dose equivalent rate (AGDE), the external risk index, the internal risk index, the index for gamma level, cancer risk for an average lifetime, etc. were calculated and compared with the international standards. Each sample of soil had lesser radium equivalent activities than the permissible limit, i.e., 370 Bq kg^-1primarily set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the effective dose equivalent was below the safe limit of 1.0 mSv y^-1. Organ-specific dose values are pretty considerable but not in the danger zone. The Clark value refuses the probability of finding any uranium ore. This study indicates that the area being studied is a place with low background radiation exposure from radionuclides.