Indicators of Radioactive Contamination by Radionuclides for Samples of Plant Fertilizers and Pesticides

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the radiation levels resulting from plant fertilizers and pesticides in Babylon City, Iraq. The specific activity of the studied radionuclides (e.g. 238U, 232Th, and 40K) was identified using the spectroscopy approach of the sodium-activated iodide thallium (NaI (Tl)) with dimensions of 3" × 3". The resulting data revealed that the specific activities for the aforementioned nuclides were 6.254 Bq/kg, 4.3694 Bq/kg, and 112.751 Bq/kg, respectively. The results indicated that the average radiation hazard metrics for fertilizers (i.e., gamma index, alpha index, absorbed dose rate, ambient dose equivalent rate, annual gonadal dose equivalent, and excess lifetime cancer risk) were lower than the reference levels. Keywords: Radiation hazard, Fertilizer, Pesticides, Risk parameters, Gamma activity.