Determination of Levels of Radioactivity of Uranium and Radium in Environmental Samples by Liquid Scintillation Counting and Alpha Spectroscopy

The present study aims to use the α-spectrometry using silicon surface-barrier detector Si (Li), as a radiometric technique to estimate U-isotopes and Ra-226 that were carried out for two rock samples from Gabal Gattar, north-eastern desert area, Egypt and two references soil samples of international atomic energy agency, IAEA. A secular equilibrium between U-238 and U-234 and disequilibrium between U-238 and Ra-226 were observed. There is no significant change of radioactivity levels of U-238, U-234 and Ra-226; this means that there is secular equilibrium between U-238 and its relative daughters. Specific dose equivalent rate of sample #1 equal about three times the corresponding value of sample #2 and doses equivalent rate for both two samples are negligible after about 6 cm without shield.