Transfer of Natural Radionuclides from Soil to Abu Dhabi Date Palms

Nuclear power and modern agriculture are two crucial sectors for sustainable development in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As these industries mature rapidly in the country, their long-term inter-compatibility needs monitoring with local data on transfer of radionuclides from arid sandy soils to farm products. Date palms, main crop from the Arabian Peninsula, remain largely unstudied for radioecological impact assessments. This paper reports the first measurement of soil to UAE date palms concentration ratios for natural radionuclides. Representative samples of soils, fruits, and leaves from seven palms in Abu Dhabi have been studied using gamma-spectrometry. Average activity concentrations in the soils are around 278.9 Bq kg(-1) for K-40, 15.5 Bq kg(-1) for U-238, and 8.3 Bq kg(-1) for Th-232. The latter two decay chains, in the plant samples, are close to detection limits, signifying their lower levels in the UAE flora and the need for upgrading analytical techniques. The geometric means of soil to fruit concentration ratios are 1.12 for K-40, but negligibly low for the others-approximately 0.08 for U-238 and 0.17 for Th-232 chains. The respective ratios for the leaves are approximately 0.13, 0.36, and 0.77. Personal radiation doses due to soils and dates are very low, posing no danger to the public.