Evaluation of Natural Radioactivity and its Radiation Hazards in Some Building and Decorative Materials in Iraq

Twenty-nine samples of different types of building materials such as bricks, cement, ceramic, granite, gravel, marble, paint, plaster, sand and soil were analyzed by a gamma spectrometer based on HPGe detector. The total average contents of Ra-226, Th-232, and K-40 for all the building samples are 35.26 Bq kg(-1), 26.99 Bq kg(-1), and 321.19 Bq kg(-1) respectively. The estimated radium equivalent activities (Ra-eq), representative index (I-gamma), absorbed gamma-dose rate, external and internal hazard indices and the annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) are lower than the recommended safe limit 1 mSy(-1). The results indicated that all the building materials in Iraq are safe except the materials that used as decorative materials that have to be regulated.