title: Annual Effective Dose of Gamma Emitters in Adults and Children for Some Types of Rice Consumed in Iraq.
abstract: This work studies the activity concentration of natural radioactivity in 20 different types of rice, including imported rice and that produced locally. The rice samples were collected from markets and farms in Iraq, and then a natural radioactivity investigation was done in the environmental laboratory of the Kufa University, using gamma-ray spectrometer systems. The research focused on measuring the activity concentration of natural radioactivity (238U,232Th, and40K) to determine the level of the radium equivalent activity, internal hazard indices, and annual effective dose. The results show that all these parameters are within the permissible limits and that radioactivity is present in almost all foodstuffs at levels ranging from 40 to 600 Bq/kg of food. Radioactivity in foodstuffs is attributed to a natural source, potassium-40, and to artificial sources, which include industrial radioactivity, weapons testing, and accidents involving radioactivity. In this article, radionuclides have been identified for most of the common species of rice available in Iraqi markets; in addition, radium equivalent activity, internal hazard indices, and annual effective dose were calculated and compared with the permissible dose to estimate the risk of radioactive isotopes in the rice crop.
authors.forename: Ali Abid
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Abojassim
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Kufa, Najaf 54001, Iraq.
authors.forename: Dahir Mohammad
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Dahir
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Kufa, Najaf 54001, Iraq.
authors.forename: Azhar S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Alaboodi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Kufa, Najaf 54001, Iraq.
authors.forename: Abbas H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Abonasria
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007493:Iraq; D012275:Oryza; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013910:Thorium
chemical_list: D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013910:Thorium
keywords: Annual effective dose; Gamma spectrometer; Iraqi food; Natural radioactivity; Rice