Risk Assessment of Natural Radioactivity and Heavy Metals Pollution at Ras-Gharib Al-Zafarana Area, Red Sea Coast, Egypt.

There is a lot of information that needs to be known before implementing economic development projects in a study area. So, Twenty-two different environmental samples were collected from soil, sediment, and coastal water samples to examine the concentrations of natural radioactive elements of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K Bq/kg by a Hyper Pure Germanium Detector Gamma-Ray Spectrometry and the concentrations of selected heavy elements in the coastal environment samples, also measured using inductively coupled plasma-optical emissions spectroscopy technique. Besides that, hourly metrological data for this site for the year 2020 were taken into account. The maximum activity values recorded for soil were 447.65 Bq/kg, 19.5 Bq/kg, and 17.88 Bq/kg for 40K, 232Th, and 226Ra, respectively; and maximum values for sediment were 357.4 Bq/kg, 16.32 Bq/kg, and 4.3 Bq/kg for 40K, 232Th, and 226Ra, respectively; also The maximum activity concentrations of 40K, 232Th, and 226Ra for water were 23.54 Bq/l, 2.03 Bq/l, and 2.0 Bq/l, respectively. The obtained results were compared with ranges reported in the literature from other sites in the world. Radiation hazard parameters were also calculated and compared with recommended levels in UNSCEAR reports. Levels of heavy elements, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd in water and sediment samples were compared with the Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines and there is some variation within the study area. Water quality parameters (temperature, total dissolved solids, hydrogen ion concentration, dissolved oxygen, and oxidation/reduction potential) show that concentrations are influenced by the intensity of human activity.