Determination of the natural radioactivity in Qatarian building materials using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry

Huda Al-Sulaiti*, N. Alkhomashi, N. Al-Dahan, M. Al-Dosari, D. A. Bradley, S. Bukhari, M. Matthews, P. H. Regan, T. Santawamaitre

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study is aimed at the determination of the activity concentrations of naturally occurring and technically enhanced levels of radiation in building materials used across the State of Qatar. Samples from a range of common building materials, including Qatarian cement, Saudi cement, white cement, sand and washed sand, have been analyzed, in addition to other samples of cements raw materials and additives collected from the main suppliers in Qatar. In order to establish the activity concentrations associated with the 235,8U and 232Th natural decay chains and 40K, the samples have been studied using a high-resolution, low-background gamma-ray spectrometry set-up. Details of the sample preparation and the gamma-ray spectroscopic analysis techniques are presented, together with the preliminary results of the activity concentrations associated with the naturally occurring radionuclide chains for the building materials collected across the Qatarian peninsula.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)915-919
Number of pages5
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume652
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Activity concentrations
  • Building materials
  • Gamma spectrometry
  • HPGe detector
  • K
  • NORM
  • Ra Th

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Determination of the natural radioactivity in Qatarian building materials using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this