Radiological Study of Environmental Radionuclides for Selected Areas from Nile Banks in Northern Sudan

Abstract

The subject of this work is a radiological study of environmental radionuclides along the River Nile branch in northern Sudan. Measurements of natural and some artificial (man-made) radionuclides in sediments, water were performed. Twenty eight samples have been collected along the River Nile from Khartoum , Aljaily , Shandi , Atbra , Dongola ,Wawa , Janas and Halfa using the standard sampling procedures.The radioactivity concentrations were measured in Bq kg-1 ,Bq L-1 for natural 226Ra( 238U ) series, 232Th series and 40K and artificial 137Cs radionuclides .The technique for the measurements of radionuclide concentrations applied is gamma ray spectrometers based on hyper pure germanium ( HPGe ) detectors . The data obtained for samples were fed and displayed through a computerprogram and plotted for the activity distribution. The doses received by population along the River Nile have been estimated from the represented results. This study leads to the following concluded points - The average activity concentrations of 226Ra( 238U ) series, 232Th series and 40K in sediment samples measured by gamma spectrometry were 22.31, 25.24 and 372.98 Bq/kg (dry weight) respectively. - The activity concentration of 137Cs in (sediments and water) samples is less than deduction limit (<DL) . - The activity concentration of radionuclides 226Ra (238U) series and 232Thseries in some water samples samples were within the low limit of detection. - K-40 was detected in water samples with an average concentration of 110.38 Bq L-