Environmental and Anthropogenic Radioactivity in Soils of the Kurdistan Region, Iraq
A Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14500/aro.12372Keywords:
Activity concentration, Fallout radionuclide, Gamma ray spectrometry, Radiation hazard, Soil radioactivityAbstract
The aim of this review is to establish baseline data of anthropogenic and environmental radioactivity levels in soils of the Kurdistan region before potential radiological releases from regional nuclear incidents in 2025. This review collects and analyses previous research and measurements of man-made radionuclides, such as 137Cs and naturally occurring radionuclides, such as 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K from a variety of locations in the study area. The data analysis indicates that the average activity concentrations of the detected radionuclides are typically lower than the global average levels as reported by the United Nations Scientific Committee on
the Effects of Atomic Radiation. The findings provide an accurate framework for assessing the safety of the environment and
identifying possible future changes in soil radioactivity.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Shalaw Z. Sedeeq, Jahfer M. Smail, Saddon T. Ahmad
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Accepted 2026-07-04
Published 2026-11-06
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