title: External dose assessment from the measured radioactivity in soil samples collected from the Islamabad capital territory, Pakistan.
abstract: It is a well known fact that natural radionuclides are the major contributors towards the gamma ray exposure received by the general public. In this context, soil samples were collected from the Islamabad capital territory and activities due to (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs were measured using gamma ray spectrometry: activities ranged from 41.5-106.2 Bq kg(-1), 4.0-193.8 Bq kg(-1), 325.3-657.4 Bq kg(-1) and 1.6-9.45 Bq kg(-1), respectively. From the measured activities, the external hazard index, internal hazard index, absorbed dose rate and mean annual effective dose were calculated. External and internal hazard indices were calculated as 0.76 and 0.95, respectively. The mean absorbed dose rate was found to be 130.97 nGy h(-1). The mean effective dose was estimated as 0.16 mSv y(-1), which is less than the maximum permissible dose of 1 mSv y(-1).
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faheem
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anwar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ziafat
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nasir
authors.lastname: Matiullah
mesh_terms: D001822:Body Burden; D002947:Cities; D003625:Data Collection; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive