Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access published online on April 9, 2009
Radiation Protection Dosimetry, doi:10.1093/rpd/ncp059
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STUDY OF CONTENTS OF 226Ra, 232Th AND 40K IN FERTILISERS
1 Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Department, Government of the Punjab, Poonch House, Multan Road, Lahore, Pakistan
2 Physics Division, Science Department, KKMA, Riyadh, 11495, Saudi Arabia
3 Sustainable Land Management Project, Planning and Development Department, Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
* Corresponding author: snatahir{at}cyber.net.pk
Received February 14, 2009, amended March 12, 2009, accepted March 18, 2009
In this study concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were measured in the fertiliser samples in Pakistan using a high-resolution and high-purity germanium detector. Samples were collected from main fertiliser depots located in 10 big cities in the Punjab province. Gamma spectrometric analysis revealed that concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K existed in the ranges from 232 to 511 Bq kg–1, 21 to 58 Bq kg–1 and 556 to 1302 Bq kg–1 with average values of 386 ± 92, 38 ± 14 and 885 ± 220 Bq kg–1, respectively. Average values of the three natural radionuclides measured in this study were within the range of reported values from some of the other countries of the world. Correlations drawn between measured concentrations were not significant.