The Scientific World Journal

Research Article

Assessment of Natural Radioactivity Levels and Radiation Hazards in Agricultural and Virgin Soil in the State of Kedah, North of Malaysia

Table 5

Range and mean value of activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K (in Bq kg⁻¹), Ra equivalent (Bq kg⁻¹), absorbed dose rates (nGy h⁻¹), external hazard index (), annual effective dose rates, AEDE, (mSv y⁻¹) in soil samples of Kedah.


	Sample	Mean	Maximum	Minimum

Radionuclides
²²⁶Ra	Agricultural soil	102.08 ± 3.96	166.55 ± 6.66	58.93 ± 1.80
²²⁶Ra	Virgin soil	65.24 ± 2.00	111.4 ± 1.3	45.11 ± 2.44
²³²Th	Agricultural soil	133.96 ± 2.92	180.45 ± 3.15	87.98 ± 1.35
²³²Th	Virgin soil	83.39 ± 2.27	127.35 ± 6.03	51.83 ± 1.18
⁴⁰K	Agricultural soil	325.87 ± 9.83	529.17 ± 10.19	202.2 ± 11.72
⁴⁰K	Virgin soil	136.98 ± 9.76	172.85 ± 7.71	99.2 ± 12.1
Radiological hazard
(nGy h⁻¹)	Agricultural soil	141.62	207.34	91.34
(nGy h⁻¹)	Virgin soil	87.47	129.04	60.71
AEDE (mSv y⁻¹)	Agricultural soil	0.169	0.254	0.112
AEDE (mSv y⁻¹)	Virgin soil	0.106	0.158	0.073
(Bq kg⁻¹)	Agricultural soil	458.785	819.86	274.75
(Bq kg⁻¹)	Virgin soil	214.293	283.22	149.83
	Agricultural soil	0.859	1.252	0.552
	Virgin soil	0.525	0.789	0.362
Gamma index	Agricultural soil	1.07	1.62	0.7
Gamma index	Virgin soil	0.59	1	0.4