https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-01691-z
Regular Article
Assessment of the radiological impacts of radionuclides in soil samples of Dajti National Park
1
Department of Radiometry and Radiochemistry, Institute of Applied Nuclear Physics, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
2
Department of Anatomic Pathology, University Hospital Center “Mother Teresa”, Tirana, Albania
3
Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
Received:
1
July
2024
Accepted:
12
May
2025
Published online:
26
May
2025
Twenty soil samples were selected in the tourist area of Dajti National Park (DNP) for the determination of radioactivity levels and assessment of radiological impacts. Gamma spectrometric system with a high-purity germanium detector (HPGe) for the determination of radionuclides concentration was used. The average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, 40 K and 137Cs were found to be 203 Bq kg−1, 68.0 Bq kg−1, 256 Bq kg−1 and 28.3 Bq kg−1, respectively. The radiological parameters such as total absorbed dose rate (D), the annual effective dose (AED) and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) were estimated to assess the radiological hazard of radioactivity. The average value of the absorbed dose rate D in the air due to gamma radiation was calculated to be 146 nGy h−1. The average value of annual effective dose (AED) for all samples was 179 μSv y−1, which was higher than the world average value of 70 μSv y−1. However, compared with the recommended limit of 1 mSv y−1 by the (ICRP) reports for members of the public, it is lower. The average excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) value was calculated to be 0.63 × 10–3. Compared to the world’s average of 0.29 × 10–3, the present result is higher almost for all localities. Therefore, all average values of radiological hazard were higher than the world average, and this implies that gamma radiation from the soil in this zone might increase the radiological risk for the population living or when used as a building material.
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Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
