The radiological effects of dust storms in Baghdad- Ramadi area

Abstract

Twelve storm dust samples were collected from three cities in Iraq. The samples were collected in the same time during big storms which hit Iraq in summer, 2012 and 2013.  The deposited dust on 4 by 4 nylon sheet on surfaces of selected buildings in cities of Baghdad, Fallujah and Al-Ramadi were collected. Each sample was put in sealed Marinilli beaker and kept for 4 weeks to reach the equilibrium state between radium and its short half-life daughters. Gamma spectrometry system based on HPGe was used for analysis of natural and artificial radionuclides in the dust. The activities of natural radionuclides were found to be ranged between 13-19 Bq/kg, 9-14 Bq/kg and 200-240 Bq/kg for Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 respectively, while Cs-137 was found in all the samples to be ranged between 3-10 Bq/kg. The current study includes the estimation of doses caused by external and internal exposure and inhalation dose of these radionuclides and discusses the potential sources of these relatively elevated concentrations of radionuclides