title: An investigation of gamma background radiation in Hamadan province, Iran.
abstract: The general population, everywhere in the world is exposed to a small dose of ionising radiation from natural sources. Stochastic effects such as cancer and genetic disorders are caused when living creatures are exposed to low doses. In Iran, it is measured in some cities, especially in high-background areas such as Ramsar, but so far there is no measurement in the Hamadan province. Hamadan is located in the west of Iran. Measurements were performed using a RDS-110 survey meter, CaSO(4):Dy thermoluminecense dosimetries (TLDs) and a Harshaw 4000 TLD reader. To estimate the dose rate  outdoors, four stations along the main directions (north, south, west and east) and one in the town centre were selected. Mean annual X and gamma equivalent dose in Hamadan province are 1.12±0.22  and 1.66±0.07 mSv, which related to RDS-110 survey meter and TLDs measurements, respectively. The TLDs and RDS-110 results are representative of the external photon radiation doses for the selected monitoring locations and for those locations for the hours during which the measurements were taken, respectively. Maximum and minimum of external photon radiation doses are related to Hamadan and Kaboudar-Ahang towns, respectively. According to the results of the study, it seems that the annual X and gamma equivalent dose in Hamadan province exceeded the global mean external exposure amounts by the UNSCEAR, and further studies are needed to measure internal exposures to determine the total environmental radiation level in  Hamadan province.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. rostampour@umsha.ac.ir
authors.forename: Nima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rostampour
authors.forename: Tinoosh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Almasi
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rostampour
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ghazikhanlou Sani
authors.forename: Hamid R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Khosravi
authors.forename: S Mehdi Hosseini
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pooya
authors.forename: Bahman
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Golzar
authors.forename: Naghi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jabari Vesal
mesh_terms: D001417:Background Radiation; D005720:Gamma Rays; D007492:Iran; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*