Salama E, El-Kameesy S U, Elrawi Rawaa
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; Basic Science Department, Faculty of Engineering, The British University in Egypt (BUE), EL Sherouk City, Egypt.
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
J Environ Radioact. 2019 May;201:25-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.01.017. Epub 2019 Feb 6.
For the sake of completeness of the surveillance process concerning the spread of depleted uranium (DU) in the Arabian Gulf region, we have applied a simple gamma spectroscopy technique to evaluate its content in Al Jolan, Nazzal and Askari districts in Al Fallujah area, Iraq for the first time and after more than one decade. The measurements were carried out along the lines of the wars that have been witnessed in Iraq last period and expected to be the region of impact of residuals of a large quantity of DU. The observed radionuclides are K and other naturally occurring radioactive members of uranium and thorium series. The obtained results show that, the average specific activity concentrations of Ra, Th, K, Pb U and U in different soil samples collected from Al Fallujah area, Iraq in range of 20.09 ± 4.0 to 21.94 ± 2.4, 11.51 ± 2.3 to 11.75 ± 3.2, 96.53 ± 8.0 to 112.13 ± 49.8, 19.98 ± 4.6 to 20.76 ± 4.8, 25.4 ± 3.9 to 26.1 ± 6.0 and 1.28 ± 0.18 to 1.34 ± 0.21 respectively. The obtained values of Ra for all the investigated samples are less than the recommended limit of 370 Bq kg and those for H are less than one. These results have been compared with the previous works and the world mean values specified by the UNSCEAR reports. The mean ratio of U/U activity in all cases is about the natural value (21.73) which is less than its value in case of DU (76.92). The present obtained results of DU levels show that although a large amount of DU was released in Iraq during the Gulf wars, the tested samples are DU free. This may be attributed to the reduction of DU from the soil surface by wind or sandstorms and the downward leaching process.
为了使阿拉伯湾地区贫铀（DU）扩散监测过程更加完整，我们首次在十多年后应用一种简单的伽马能谱技术，对伊拉克费卢杰地区的乔兰、纳扎勒和阿斯卡里地区的贫铀含量进行评估。测量沿着伊拉克上一时期经历战争的路线进行，预计该地区是大量贫铀残留物的影响区域。观测到的放射性核素是钾以及铀系和钍系的其他天然存在的放射性成员。所得结果表明，从伊拉克费卢杰地区采集的不同土壤样品中镭、钍、钾、铅、铀和铀的平均比活度浓度范围分别为20.09±4.0至21.94±2.4、11.51±2.3至11.75±3.2、96.53±8.0至112.13±49.8、19.98±4.6至20.76±4.8、25.4±3.9至26.1±6.0以及1.28±0.18至1.34±0.21。所有调查样品的镭所得值均低于370 Bq/kg的推荐限值，而氢的值小于1。这些结果已与先前的研究以及联合国原子辐射影响科学委员会（UNSCEAR）报告规定的世界平均值进行了比较。所有情况下铀/铀活度的平均比值约为天然值（21.73），低于贫铀情况下的值（76.92）。目前所得的贫铀水平结果表明，尽管海湾战争期间伊拉克释放了大量贫铀，但测试样品不含贫铀。这可能归因于风或沙尘暴使贫铀从土壤表面减少以及向下淋溶过程。
