ASSESSMENT OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY LEVELS AND RADIATION DOSE RATE IN SOME SOIL SAMPLES FROM BATAK MOUNTAIN, BULGARIA

This study aims to determine the activity concentrations of naturally occurring, technically-enhanced levels of radiation and the gamma absorbed dose rates in soil samples collected from Battik Mountain, Bulgaria. By using high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector gamma-ray spectrometer, the activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 were found in surface soil samples ranged from 65 +/- 12.25 to 120 +/- 17.50 Bq kg(-1) with an average value of 78.33 +/- 2 0.66 Bq kg(-1), ranging from 2 +/- 1 to 6 +/- 2 .1 Bq kg(-1) with the average value 3.5 +/- 1.38 Bq kg(-1) and from 720 +/- 15 to 1200 +/- 198 Bq kg(-1), with the mean value of 921.67 +/- 170.34 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The measured values are comparable with other global radioactivity measurements and are found to be safe for public and environment. The baseline data of this type will almost certainly be of importance in making estimations of population exposure.