Assessment of naturally occurring radionuclides in surface soil and drinking water from western part of Yadgir district Karnataka, India

Radionuclide activity of the selected radionuclides 238U, 232Th and 40K was measured in surface soil samples collected from 40 villages of the western part of Yadgir district of Karnataka. A 4 '' x 4 '' NaI (Tl) detector based on a gamma spectrometer is used for the estimation of radionuclides. The major type of soil in this region is sandy and red. The 222Rn activity concentrations in drinking water were determined by the Emanometry method. The 222Rn activity in ground water is found to vary from 1.73 to 155.6 Bql-1. The total annual effective doses because of 222Rn inhalation and ingestion range from 4.72 to 424.84 mu Sv y-1 with an average value of 108.8 mu Sv y-1, respectively. Among the sampling stations, Shahapur and Shorapur soil samples show higher activity values than the Kembhavi and Hunasagi sampling stations soil samples.