Radiological monitoring in some coastal regions of the Saudi Arabian Gulf close to the Iranian Bushehr nuclear plant

Jamila S Alzahrani; Aljawhara Almuqrin; Hanan Alghamdi; Badriah Albarzan; Mayeen Uddin Khandaker; M I Sayyed

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113146

Radiological monitoring in some coastal regions of the Saudi Arabian Gulf close to the Iranian Bushehr nuclear plant

Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Feb:175:113146. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113146. Epub 2021 Nov 22.

Authors

Jamila S Alzahrani¹, Aljawhara Almuqrin², Hanan Alghamdi¹, Badriah Albarzan¹, Mayeen Uddin Khandaker³, M I Sayyed⁴

Affiliations

¹ Physics Department, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Physics Department, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: ahalmoqren@pnu.edu.sa.
³ Centre for Applied Physics and Radiation Technologies, School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of physics, Faculty of Science, Isra University, Amman, Jordan; Department of Nuclear Medicine Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (IAU), P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: dr.mabualssayed@gmail.com.

PMID: 34823865
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113146

Abstract

We studied the concentrations of terrestrial and anthropogenic radionuclides in seawater and shore sediment/sand of three selected regions; Khafji, Safaniyah and Menifah along the Saudi Arabian Gulf coast. The mean activity concentrations of the ²²⁸Ra, ²²⁶Ra, and ⁴⁰K in the analyzed sand samples are 5.9, 3.5 and 113.5 Bq/kg, and the respective values in seawater samples are 1.6, 0.8 and 10.4 Bq/L. All data show lower than the corresponding UNSCEAR (2000) reported world average values of 35, 30 and 400 Bq/kg for soil matrix. A few relevant radiological hazards were quantified by the estimation of the absorbed dose rate, and the results are compared with the prescribed limits set by international regulatory bodies. Measured data indicates that the studied coastal regions pose a negligible radiological hazards to the public, and show an insignificant radioactive loading to this coastal region by the Busher nuclear power plant.

Keywords: Beach sand; Dose assessment; Gamma spectrometry; Potassium-40; Radium isotopes; Saudi Arabian Gulf; Seawater; Shore sediments.

MeSH terms

Iran
Potassium Radioisotopes / analysis
Radiation Monitoring* / methods
Radioactivity*
Radioisotopes / analysis
Radium* / analysis
Saudi Arabia
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive* / analysis
Spectrometry, Gamma
Thorium / analysis

Substances

Potassium Radioisotopes
Radioisotopes
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
Thorium
Radium