Evaluation of heavy metal and radionuclide concentration in different environmental samples from middle delta region in Arab Republic of Egypt.

Abstract

This work is devoted to highlight baseline study performed to evaluate the activity concentration levels in soil and water samples in Gharbia governorate near Al Mahalla Alkobra city, Egypt, fourty soil and thirty three water samples were collected and treated properly in order to evaluate the specific activity of 228U (226Ra) , 232Th (228Ra) and40K in them using gamma spectroscopy technique based on a HpGe detector. Three districts and five irrigation canals were chosen the area of study. For soil samples, the mean values of activity concentrations for 228u, 232Th and 40K in the three districts is found to be ( 21.86 0.9), (14.7 1.77) and (199.46 14.72) Bq/kg respectively. These values are less than the populated world wide mean values. For water samples, the five selected irrigation canals in the area were investigated to evaluate their radioactivity content. The obtained results reveal that the mean values of the specific activities of 226Ra , 228Ra and 40K are found to be( 0.048 0.002 ), (0.028 0.004) and ( 2.96 0.205 ) Bq/L respectively which are far from the state of being hazards. The present work also examined some radiation hazard indices where the mean value obtained are for absorbed dose r