226Ra, 232Th and 40K contents in water samples in part of central deserts in Iran and their potential radiological risk to human population

Abstract

Background: The radiological quality of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in some samples of water resources collected in Anarak-Khour a desertic area, Iran has been measured by direct gamma ray spectroscopy using high purity germanium detector in this paper. Result: The concentration ranged from ≤0.5 to 9701 mBq/L for 226Ra; =0.2 to 28215 mBq/L for 232Th and < MDA to 10332 mBq/L for 40K. The radium equivalent activity was well below the defined limit of 370Bq/L. The calculated external hazard indices were found to be less than 1 which shows a low dose. Conclusion: These results can be contributed to the database of this area because it may be used as disposal sites of nuclear waste in future. © 2014 Ehsanpour et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.