RADIOACTIVITY OF SOIL IN THE REGION OF THE TOWN OF NIS, SERBIA.

ABSTRACT

The concentration of radionuclides in samples of soil collected in the region of the town of Nis, was measured and presented in this paper. The naturally occurring radionuclides, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K, were found in all samples. In many of them, 137Cs was also measured, while the other artificial radionuclides were not detected. The measurements were carried out using the standard gamma spectroscopy system with high purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The results show that the average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs are 21, 26, 414 and 4.7, in Bq/kg, respectively. The sediment in the municipality spa Niska Banja exhibits a high content of 226Ra, 573 Bq/kg. The outdoor dose rates, due to the gamma radiation of the ground, were also determined for all soils. The average absorbed dose rate in air was estimated to be 39 nGy/h, while the corresponding annual effective dose is 0.048 mSv.