Assessment of radiological hazards due to the natural radioactivity in soil and building material samples collected from six districts of the Punjab province-Pakistan

There has been great concern about the health risks associated with the exposure due to the natural radioactivity present in soil and building materials all over the world. In this context, soil and building material samples were collected from Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Sialkot, Mandibahauddin and Narowal districts of the Punjab province, Pakistan. Ra226, Th232 and K40 concentrations were measured in these samples using the HPGe detector. From the measurements, mean radium equivalent activity, external and internal hazard indices as well as terrestrial absorbed dose rate were calculated. Average Ra226, Th232 and K40 concentrations in soil and building material samples were found to range from 20±920±9 to 43±17Bqkg-1, 29±829±8 to 53±9Bqkg-1 and 98±3898±38 to 621±189Bqkg-1, respectively. Average radium equivalent activity, external and internal hazard indices and annual effective dose equivalent were found to range from 69±2569±25 to 165±32Bqkg-1, 0.18±0.090.18±0.09 to 0.45±0.090.45±0.09, 0.25±0.140.25±0.14 to 0.56±0.100.56±0.10 and 0.10±0.080.10±0.08 to 0.39±0.07mSv, respectively. These values were compared with the published data and were found to be within acceptable limits.