Primordial radioactivity (238U, 232Th and 40K) measurements for soils of Ludhiana district of Punjab, India

The aim of the present work was to study the activity concentration and absorbed gamma dose rates due to primordial radionuclides (238U, 232Th and 40K) for the soil of different villages of Ludhiana district of Punjab (India)) using a high-purity germanium detector based on high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. The average activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th and 40K in the soil samples have been found to be 28.58, 50.95 and 569.59 Bq kg-1, respectively, which gives the total gamma dose rate contribution of 68.50 nGy h-1. To evaluate the radiological hazard of the natural radioactivity, the radium equivalent activity, the external hazard index, the absorbed dose rate and the effective dose rate have been calculated. The calculated radium equivalent activity values are on the lower side of the recommended safe limit value of 370 Bq kg-1 by Organization of Economic and Control Dept.. The calculated value of external health hazard index is lower than unity. (authors)