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.
