Summary
Samples of limestone, sand, marble, clay brick, red brick, gypsum, Portland cement and white cement collected from upper Egypt used in building manufacturing have been analyzed for the natural radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K usingg-ray spectrometry. The specific concentrations for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K, ranged from 20-88, 13-115 and 54-304 Bq/kg, respectively. The average specific activities of these radionuclides were compared. Higher values of 226Ra and 232Th could be noticed in marble while that of 40K was in red bricks. Radium equivalent activities, dose rate and the annual gonadal dose equivalents AGDE were calculated for the measured samples to assess the radiation hazard arising from using those materials in the construction of dwellings. The radioactive heat production values of the selected materials have also been determined. They vary from a minimum of 0.41 for white cement to a maximum of 5.52mW/m3 for marble samples. The calculated heat-production values are quite similar to those estimated in Corsica.</p> </p>
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Abbady, A. Radiological hazard and radiogenic heat production in some building materials in upper Egypt</p> </p> . J Radioanal Nucl Chem 268, 243–246 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-006-0160-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-006-0160-3