Assessing the Radioactivity of Samples Taken during a Dust Storm in the Iraqi City of Hilla

The research aims to investigate the distinguishing behaviors and risk indicators in samples of dust storms in Hilla city, Iraq. NaI (Tl) detector was used for the measurements, along with spectrum analysis. The findings of the measurements of elements 238U, 232Th, and 40K's specific activities in samples from dust storms ranged for 238U from 9.2 ± 0.5 to 22.9 ± 0.8 (Bq/kg) at an average 16.92 ± 0.7 (Bq/kg), the range of 232Th's specific activity was between 2.7 ± 0.2 to 11.41 ± 0.5 at the average6.5 ± 0.3 (Bq/kg), whereas the range for 40K was 119.43 ± 2.2 to 174.92 ± 2.6 (Bq/kg) with mean150.34 ± 2.4 (Bq/kg). Furthermore, it is shown that the radium equivalent activity and absorbed dose in dust storm samples average 37.774 Bq/kg and 34.881(nGy/h), respectively, and the external hazard index was 0.102. In contrast, the average of the effective dose of samples was 0.022 mSv/y. The findings of the present study were compared with the global average, the levels were discovered to be within the advised limit according to UNSCEAR.