Radiological hazard assessment and sensitivity analysis for soil samples in Taghdoua area of Ranyah, Saudi Arabia

In this study, twenty-two samples of soil were studied for Rn-222, Ra-2(26), Th-232 and K-40 using hyper-pure Germanium (HPGe) detector. The soil samples were collected from an inhabited area surrounding the small mountain in Taghdoua area of Ranyah. The measured activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and 40 K in the soil were found to vary from 6 to 54, 7 to 52 and 299-761 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The radiological risk parameters including excess lifetime cancer risks and other relevant parameters were also evaluated. Furthermore, the effect of ventilation changes on both external and internal doses over a protracted exposure duration were studied through sensitivity analysis using RESRAD-BUILD computer code. The external doses were observed to be insensitive to ventilation while a considerable change was detected in the internal doses with ventilation. Hence, the investigated radiological risk parameters including the results from RESRAD were all below the recommended limit.