Transfer Factor and Related Doses of U-238 from Soil to Root-Plants at Some Areas of al Tarmiyah City, Iraq

Abstract

The existence of radioactive concentration in both soil and plants results in some committed dose to the working individuals and their families. Hence, this work was conducted to calculate the transfer factor in plants to absorb radionuclides from soil. A CR-39 detector was used to measure the uranium concentrations in six samples of root plants (and their soil) grown in the region of Tarmiyah city, Baghdad- Iraq. The highest concentration of uranium was in the Turnips plant sample (0.530 ppm) and the lowest concentration was in the Jerusalem artichoke plant sample (0.208 ppm), while the activity concentrations in soil were the highest for carrots and the onion had the lowest concentration (i.e. 0.898 ppm and 0.632 ppm, respectively). The committed dose resulting from eating the root plants of all the studied plants and the radioactive contamination from soil to the field working member were within the world accepted limits.