TY - JOUR
T1 - Radiological baseline around the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, UAE
AU - Al Rashdi, Mouza Rashid
AU - El Mowafi, Walid
AU - Alaabed, Sulaiman
AU - El Tokhi, Mohamed
AU - Arabi, Alya A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the College of Graduate Studies at the United Arab Emirates University, UAEU, for covering all the costs associated with this research project. “All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files]”. Not applicable. MAR completed the measurements in the lab and participated in the data analysis and writing the paper. WEM contributed to data analysis and in reviewing the paper. SA and MET collected the samples, facilitated the work in the UAE lab and in Egypt, and reviewed the manuscript. AAA participated in the data analysis and in writing the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Destructive and non-destructive analysis techniques were used to establish a radiological baseline around the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant area in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The natural radioactivity concentrations of 238U (226Ra), 232Th and 40K were measured for shore, soil and bottom sediment samples, using gamma spectrometry with a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. Alpha spectrometry was used to measure the 234U/238U ratio for some selected samples using a silicon surface-barrier detector. The measured gamma activity concentrations in shore samples are much lower compared to those in soil and bottom samples. The average activity concentrations of 238U (226Ra) are 4.43 ± 1.12, 13.54 ± 4.16 and 4.73 ± 3.01 Bq/kg in shore, soil and bottom sediment samples, respectively. The corresponding values for 232Th are 1.68 ± 0.49, 8.31 ± 3.87 and 1.83 ± 1.67 Bq/kg, and those for 40K, are 106.30 ± 50.68, 349.72 ± 107.16 and 105.23 ± 130.14 Bq/kg. The 234U/238U activity ratios span a wide range from 0.59 to 2.24, indicating a system where the daughter/parent is out of secular radioactive equilibrium. The hazard parameters, radium equivalent and absorbed dose rates, showed low levels compared to the world average level reported by the UNSCEAR in 2000. The estimated activity concentrations in this study were lower than the world average values and lower than the levels reported in nearby countries.
AB - Destructive and non-destructive analysis techniques were used to establish a radiological baseline around the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant area in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The natural radioactivity concentrations of 238U (226Ra), 232Th and 40K were measured for shore, soil and bottom sediment samples, using gamma spectrometry with a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. Alpha spectrometry was used to measure the 234U/238U ratio for some selected samples using a silicon surface-barrier detector. The measured gamma activity concentrations in shore samples are much lower compared to those in soil and bottom samples. The average activity concentrations of 238U (226Ra) are 4.43 ± 1.12, 13.54 ± 4.16 and 4.73 ± 3.01 Bq/kg in shore, soil and bottom sediment samples, respectively. The corresponding values for 232Th are 1.68 ± 0.49, 8.31 ± 3.87 and 1.83 ± 1.67 Bq/kg, and those for 40K, are 106.30 ± 50.68, 349.72 ± 107.16 and 105.23 ± 130.14 Bq/kg. The 234U/238U activity ratios span a wide range from 0.59 to 2.24, indicating a system where the daughter/parent is out of secular radioactive equilibrium. The hazard parameters, radium equivalent and absorbed dose rates, showed low levels compared to the world average level reported by the UNSCEAR in 2000. The estimated activity concentrations in this study were lower than the world average values and lower than the levels reported in nearby countries.
KW - Alpha spectroscopy
KW - Barakah Nuclear Power Plant
KW - Gamma spectroscopy
KW - Radioactivity
KW - Radium equivalent dose and absorbed dose rates
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103951343&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85103951343&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.arabjc.2021.103125
DO - 10.1016/j.arabjc.2021.103125
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103951343
SN - 1878-5352
VL - 14
JO - Arabian Journal of Chemistry
JF - Arabian Journal of Chemistry
IS - 5
M1 - 103125
ER -