Radon Concentration in Soil and Radon Exhalation Rate at Al-Dora Refinery and Surrounding Area in Baghdad

Nada F. Tawfiq, Jaafar Jaleel

Physics Department, College of Science, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq.

DOI: 10.4236/detection.2015.34006                

Abstract

Radongas concentrations in soil samples were determined from depths (surface, 15, and 30) cm for nine locations in Al-Dora refinery and surrounding area using “sealed can technique” and CR-39 solid state nuclear track detectors. The radon concentration in surface samples ranged from 810.08 to 1380.08 Bq/m³ with an average 1137.71 Bq/m³. The radon concentration in soil at the depth 15 cm was ranged from 490.5 to 1197.52 Bq/m³ with an average 732.78 Bq/m³ and at the depth 30 cm was ranged from 362.07 to 889.53 Bq/m³ with an average 529.41 Bq/m³. The surface exhalation rate in surface soil samples ranged was 0.44, to 0.99 Bq·m^-2·h^-1 with average 0.61 Bq·m^-2·h^-1. The surface exhalation rate in soil samples at the depth 15 cm was ranged from 0.22 to 0.64 Bq·m^-2·h^-1 with average 0.39 Bq·m^-2·h^-1. The surface exhalation rate in soil samples at the depth 15 cm was ranged from 0.22 to 0.64 Bq·m^-2·h^-1 with average 0.39 Bq·m^-2·h^-1. The surface exhalation rate and the mass exhalation rate in soil samples at the depth 30 cm ranged from 0.19, to 0.48 Bq·m^-2·h^-1 with average 0.28 Bq·m^-2·h^-1. The mass exhalation rate in surface soil samples ranged from 0.09 to 0.21 Bq·kg^-1·h^-1 with average 0.12 Bq·kg^-1·h^-1. The mass exhalation rate in soil samples from depth 15 cm was ranged from 0.046 to 0.14 Bq·kg^-1·h^-1 with average 0.08 Bq·kg^-1·h^-1. The mass exhalation rate in soil samples at the depth 30 cm was ranged from 0.042 to 0.1 Bq·kg^-1·h^-1 with average 0.06 Bq·kg^-1·h^-1.

Keywords

Radon Concentration, Soil Sample, CR-39 Track Detector, Radon Exhalation Rate

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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