Title: Gamma spectroscopy for the investigation of radiation contamination in the UAE

Authors: Muhammad Zubair; Samar El-Sayed Ahmed; Ahmad Ababneh; Abdullah Omar; Abdelrahman Mohamed

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE; Nuclear Energy System Simulation and Safety Research Group, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE ' Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE ' Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE ' Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE ' Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE

Abstract: Radiation monitoring deals with the sampling and measurement of different products found in different radiation pathways from the environment ending with consumption in humans. The aim of this research is to measure the radioactivity in the food products from different cities in the United Arab Emirates. Gamma-spectroscopy is the main tool for measurement that is adopted in this research, available in University of Sharjah and the Sharjah Municipality laboratories. The samples of milk, honey and dates were analysed to measure the radiation level. Milk and date samples were counted for 18 hours, and the measurement time for honey was around 48 hours. The count rate of ⁴⁰K, ¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs was measured for different types of milk, dates and honey produced in the UAE. The count rate of ¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs was undetected in all samples. However, a ⁴⁰K peak was present in all spectra and found to be 0.0149 [cps], 0.0294 [cps] and 0.0189 [cps] in the milk, dates and honey samples respectively. The results acquired from the tests were compared with similar studies in the past and were found to be of high similarity. The findings of this research reveal the absence of radionuclides in the food products.

Keywords: gamma spectroscopy; radioactive sampling; environmental management; activity concentration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2020.112155

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2020 Vol.14 No.2, pp.141 - 153

Received: 26 Mar 2020
Accepted: 29 Aug 2020
Published online: 04 Jan 2021 *

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