Determination of Natural Radioactivity Concentrations in Natural Water Resources of Hebron Province, Palestine

Abstract

In this study, the radioactivity concentrations and the associated annual effective dose rates of natural radionuclides in 60 water samples collected randomly from natural water resources scattered most over parts of Hebron province, West Bank, Palestine have been measured using the well-known high resolution gamma ray spectroscopy. The obtained activity concentrations results were found to range from 1.62 to 9.11 Bqi-1, 0.45 to 4.40 Bq i-1, 0.44 to 2.06 Bqi-1, and 1.57 to 15.60 Bqi-1 for 226Ra, 232Th, 234Th, and 40K, respectively. The estimated mean effective doses for the ingestion of these waters by adults were as follows: 0.56 mSv y-1 for 226Ra, 0.065 mSv y-1 for 232Th, 0.042 mSv y-1 for 234Th, and 0.04 mSv y-1 for 40K. The obtained activity concentration and annual effective doses data generally exceeded the detection limit and the assigned international values in some sampling sites reported in other countries. A reasonable correlation was found between 226Raand 232Th activity concentrations, and water characteristics (pH, and conductivity