Natural Radioactivity Assessment and Radiation Hazards of Pegmatite as a Building Material, Hafafit Area, Southeastern Desert, Egypt

El-Afandy H Adel; Samia H Taha; Osama A Ebyan; Wafaa M Rashed; Mohamed G El-Feky; Mohammed S Alqahtani; Korany A Korany; Mohamed Y Hanfi

doi:10.3390/toxics10100596

Natural Radioactivity Assessment and Radiation Hazards of Pegmatite as a Building Material, Hafafit Area, Southeastern Desert, Egypt

Toxics. 2022 Oct 9;10(10):596. doi: 10.3390/toxics10100596.

Authors

El-Afandy H Adel¹, Samia H Taha², Osama A Ebyan¹, Wafaa M Rashed³, Mohamed G El-Feky¹, Mohammed S Alqahtani^{4

5}, Korany A Korany⁶, Mohamed Y Hanfi^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Contracts Sector, Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo P.O. Box 530, Egypt.
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Al Azhar University, Cairo P.O. Box 11884, Egypt.
³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, New Vally University, Alkharja 72511, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ BioImaging Unit, Space Research Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
⁶ Department of Basic Sciences, Common First Year Deanship, Jouf University, Sakaka P.O. Box 214, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Institute of Physics and Technology, Ural Federal University, St. Mira 19, Yekaterinburg 620002, Russia.

Abstract

Sixty-seven sites of Hafafit pegmatite from the Southeastern Desert of Egypt were investigated radiometrically in the field using an in situ γ-ray spectrometer to determine eU, eTh, and K contents. The obtained results ranged from 0.4 to 6 ppm for eU with a mean value of 2.5 ppm, from 0.2 to 32 ppm for eTh with a mean value of 6.7 ppm, and from 0.7% to 5.4% for K with a mean value of 3.3%. Consequently, the radiological effects from these rocks were estimates by determination of the environmental parameters: gamma activity concentration index Iγ, external hazard index H_ex, internal hazard index H_in, external absorbed dose rates in outdoor, and external absorbed dose rates in indoor air. The results obtained in this study showed that values U, Th, and K lie in the range of the acceptable world values. In addition, the calculated radiation hazard parameters (Iγ, H_ex, and H_in) have values lower than the world values, while the calculated external absorbed dose rates (D_air) have values higher than the world and Egyptian permissible levels.

Keywords: alpha index; natural radioactivity; pegmatite; radiation hazards; south-eastern desert.

Grants and funding

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University (KKU) for funding this research project Number (R.G.P.2/247/43).