NATURAL RADIATION ABSORBED DOSE RATE AND RADIATION TRANSFER FACTOR FROM SOIL TO VEGETABLE IN SOME SELECTED AREAS OF CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate natural radioactivity levels and Transfer Factors of natural radionuclides from soil to some plants in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The concentrations of naturally occurring and anthropogenic radionuclides in soil and plants were measured in this work to determine the absorbed dose rate and the transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to plant. Plants (Spinach and Vegetables) and corresponding soil samples were collected from three different locations in Chittagong (Nasirabad, Sitakunda, and Halda Agrotechnology), and the concentrations of activity of natural radionuclides were measured using gamma-ray spectrometry. The average absorbed dose rate in the soil of Nasirabad, Sitakunda, and Halda Agrotechnology are 49.84 nGyh-1, 37.4 nGyh-1, and 45.6 nGyh-1. The average transfer factor from soil to plants, recorded for 238U, 232Th, and 40K of these study areas, are 0.461, 0.400, and 3.10, respectively. The ratio of soil to plant transfer factor for the present study compared with some previous work. The Transfer Factor of 40K gives some high value but does not exceed the limit of the different published values. Because there are no existing databases for the natural radioactivity in soil and plants from Chittagong, Bangladesh, our results are establishing a database for the Chittagong, Bangladesh soil and plants. This data may be used as a database for further investigation for the betterment of public health.