Assessment of radioactivity in Granitoids at Nikeiba, Southeastern Desert, Egypt; radionuclides concentrations and radiological hazard parameters

Assessment of the radioactive impacts of building materials has become important before materials are employed in various infrastructure fields. The current study conducted a radiological survey on multiple granitoids in the Nikeiba area, southeastern Desert, Egypt. The petrographically studies were performed and illustrated the presence of radioactive bearing minerals in the investigated granitoids. The activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in these rocks, including the granitoids, are measured using a GS-256 spectrometer with a 0.35 L sodium iodide (NaI) thallium activated detector. The activity concentration of 238U, 232Th, and 40K varied from 1 +/- 0.3, 4 +/- 1 and 94 +/- 15 Bq kg-1 to 274 +/- 74, 229 +/- 24, and 3537 +/- 436 Bq kg-1 with the mean value of 83 +/- 47, 104 +/- 50 and 1140 +/- 462 Bq kg -1, respectively. Multivariate statistical analysis is applied to detect the correlation and similarities of radionuclides with the radioactive hazard indices. Pearson correlation analysis depicts the distribution of 232Th controls the distribution of 238U in the granitoids. The primary radiological health hazard characteristics related to the concentrations of 238U and 232Th were determined by the variance of 89.76% derived using PCA. The cluster analysis dendrogram results indicate a good match with the correlation analysis.