Radioactivity and Radiological Risk Assessment in Sediments from Upper and Lower Dukan Dam

Abstract

In this study, the activity concentrations of natural and artificial radionuclides in 18 sediment samples were investigated from Iraq's Upper and Lower Dukan dam using he high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector as a gamma-ray spectrometry technique. The results revealed that the values of the activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs sediment ranged from (2.85 to 24.60 Bq kg− 1), (1.27 to 7.56 Bq kg− 1), (42.14 to 346.6 Bq kg− 1), and (0.14 to 3.62 Bq kg− 1), respectively. The radiological risk parameters such as radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent, and external hazard index were determined and found to be 30.98 Bq kg− 1, 14.97 nGy h-1, 29.62 nGy h-1, 0.019 µSv y-1, 0.153 µSv y-1, 0.08 mSv y-1, and 0.11 mSv y-1, respectively. The observed mean values were comparable to internationally recommended values.