DETERMINATION OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY OF 226RA, 238U, 232TH, 40K, AND RADIATION HAZARD PARAMETERS ASSESSMENT IN THE SOIL IN KORDOFAN, SUDAN.

The current work uses a high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma detector to measure radionuclides in the soil in Kordofan, Sudan. This experimental investigation was required to determine the activities of soil samples and detect the radiation hazard indices at three selected locations in Kordofan, which include ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra, and ⁴⁰K using gamma-ray spectrometry. The assessment of radium equivalent (Req) was determined to be between 25.12 Bq/kg to 293.03 Bq/kg. However, the external and internal hazard indices Hex and Hin were less than the permissible limit of 1. The possible radiological health risk in the soil was estimated using the absorbed dosage rate of the area under study in the range of 13.06 to 94.4 nGy/hour. It is revealed that the range of radiation annual effective absorbed dose rates is 0.03 to 0.116 mSv/year. The activity concentrations of these radionuclides were measured to be fairly consistent with the data that had been reported globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]