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A method for detecting thorium by its decay products has been tested on PRIPYAT six-crystal 4 π γ -ray coincidence spectrometers. This method makes it possible to measure large-volume samples of any shape with a higher sensitivity and a shorter acquisition time than when an HPGe spectrometer with a comparable cost is used.

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Soil samples from Montenegro were analysed by the HPGe detector with 40 % of relative efficiency, for radioactivity due to (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K. The average activity concentrations have been found to be 39.9, 43.5 and 437.6 Bq kg(-1), respectively, i.e. in accordance with those in the other South European countries. In order to evaluate the health hazard, radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rate, external hazard index, annual gonadal dose equivalent and excess lifetime cancer risk (CR) have been calculated. The excess lifetime CR (× 10(-3)) had a range from 0.12 to 0.79, with an arithmetic mean of 0.27, which is in accordance with the global average. Mean gonadal dose equivalent was higher than the world average, and one location was found with the radium equivalent activity >370 Bq kg(-1), i.e. with the external hazard index higher than unity, which means the radiation hazard is not negligible.