Measurements of Natural Radioactivity in Some Water and Soil Samples of Punjab State, India

Abstract

In the present investigation a nuclear track-etch technique using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors was used to estimate the trace uranium concentration in water and soil samples collected from different sources and locations of the Amritsar and Bathinda cities of Punjab. The uranium concentration in the water samples collected from Amritsar was found to vary from 3.17 to 4.19 mg L 1 and in the Bathinda city it varied between 4.28 and 16.48 mg L 1. A lake sample, collected from the NFL water works site in Bathinda city had a uranium content of only 1.21 mg L 1 which was several times lower than those samples collected from hand-pumps and tube - wells from this area. The uranium concentration in soil samples of Amritsar city was found to vary from 0.61 to 1.27 ppm. In addition, soil samples from other cities of the Punjab were analysed using the Gamma-spectroscopic technique to determine 226Ra, 232Th and 40K concentrations in soil. The average values of the concentration of 1 respectively.