Determination of activity concentration level of 226RA, 40K and 232TH in soil within Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is aimed at determining the levels of primordial radionuclides ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in selected sampling sites within Igabi local government area of Kaduna state, Nigeria using Gamma Ray Spectrometry. Radioactivity levels of fifteen samples taken from seven different locations within Igabi local Government area of Kaduna state, Nigeria were measured by means of gamma-ray spectrometry with ???(??) detector to determine activity concentration of 40K, 226Ra and 232Th. Results obtained indicate highest activity concentration of ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th from soil samples collected from NOU (502.4883 ????⁻¹), BP1 (759.0962 ????⁻¹) and EC2 (127.5941????⁻¹).The mean activity of 40K (237.4184 ????⁻¹)was found to be lower than the world average of 420 ????⁻¹; that of ²³²Th (86.2182 ????⁻¹) was found to be above the world average of 50 ????⁻¹; and that of ²²⁶Ra (128.3507 ????⁻¹) was found to be lower than the world average of 370 ????⁻¹..