Radiation and Environmental Study of the Beach Sands in Ras Hankorab Area, South Marsa Alam, Egypt.

Abstract

This thesis aims to study of the radioactivity concentration of natural radionuclide gamma rays emitted by 238U,226Ra,232Th and 40K to recognize the level of radioactivity in soil and consequently we can estimate the external exposure on Ras Hankorab beach, south Marsa Alam City, southeastern Desert, Egypt and aims too to know the important minerals found in sand of beach to be used as therapeutic environment. To achieve these targets, we make the following: Thirty-Four sand samples were collected where seventeen samples from surface and seventeen samples from 40 cm depth and were taken for radiometric and geochemical analysis. Firstly, for gamma analysis Hyper Pure Germanium detector (HPGe) was used where: • The samples were collected from Ras Hankorab beach located on the red sea coastal plain about 80 km south of Marsa Alam city. The analysis of the samples demonstrates that the measured average activity concentration for the samples from surface were 116.1, 113.8, 7.7 and 181.2 Bq/Kg for 238U, 226Ra,232Th and 40K respectively. While the average activity concentration for the samples from 40 cm depth were 113.4, 117.8, 7.9 and 181.5 Bq/Kg for 238U, 226Ra,232Th and 40K respectively. The activity concentrations in samples for uranium and radium were higher than the permissible level while for thorium and potassium were lower than the permissible level. The activity ratios 232Th/238U for samples were measured and were lower than Clark's value which indicate the uranium enrichment of the area.