title: Quantitative measurement of natural radioactivity in some roofing tile materials used in upper Egypt.
abstract: The quantitative measurement of radionuclides ((226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K) in some roofing tile materials (granite, alabaster, marble, traditional and advanced ceramic) used in Upper Egypt is presented in this paper. Measurements were done by using gamma spectrometry (NaI (Tl) 3" × 3"). The values of concentration of natural radionuclides were in the following ranges: 12-78.9 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra, 8.4-113.1 Bq kg(-1) for (232)Th and 94.9-509 Bq kg(-1)for (40)K. The activity concentration index (I), the specific dose rates indoors ( ) and the annual effective dose (DE) due to gamma radiation were calculated for each investigated sample. The lowest value of I is 0.19 for alabaster, while the highest one is 0.88 for traditional and advanced ceramic. The ranges of DE are between 0.03 and 0.13 mSv, it is below the maximal permitted values, so that the examined materials could be used as roofing tiles in the construction of new buildings.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azher University, Assuit Branch, 71524 Assuit, Egypt. dr_mohamed_amin@lycos.com
authors.forename: M A M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Uosif
mesh_terms: D001417:Background Radiation; D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D004534:Egypt; D006801:Humans; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma; D013910:Thorium / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D013910:Thorium; D011883:Radium