EVALUATION OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND HEAVY ELEMENTS IN EGYPTIAN CLAY SAMPLES USING DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES

Abstract

Clay, consisting fine grained materials, is an interesting materials and can be used in a variety of different fields. The knowledge of the radioactivity levels and heavy metals concentrations in these commonly used materials was of great importance in the assessment of possible radiological risks to human health. The purpose of this study was to determine the natural radioactivity due to 238U,232Th and 40K and heavy metals concentration (Cu, Cd, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni and Zn) in some Egyptian different clay samples using gamma ray spectroscopy and flame atomic absorption spectrometer respectively. The activity concentration of 238U,232Th and 40K of the different clay samples was ranged from (5.93 to 85.26),( 2.88 to 99.98) and (8.72 to 428.92) Bq/kg respectively. It was found that the concentration of heavy metals lies between 0.1 ppm for Mn to 68.8 ppm for Fe in these clay samples. Radium equivalent activities and various hazard indices were also calculated to assess the radiation hazard. The radium equivalent activities Raeq are in the range from (32.78 to 354.49) Bq/kg it was found that these values are lower than the permissible limit 370 Bq/kg. The calculated values of external hazard index Hex and the representative level index I γ were found to be ranged from (0.088 to 0.95) and (0.24 to 2.43) respectively. The absorbed gamma dose rate ( DR ) nGy/h was found to be ranged from (6.14 to 107.30).