Reference levels of background radioactivity for beach sands and soils in İnebolu/Kastamonu-Turkey

Abstract

This paper presents the measurement results of environmental radioactivity levels for İnebolu district (tourist area), Kastamonu-Turkey. The radioactivity concentrations of238U,232Th,40K and the fission product137Cs in soil samples collected from 13 region surroundings of study area and in 12 beach sand samples collected from along the coast of İnebolu were determined. To evaluate the radiological hazard of the natural radioactivity, based on the measured concentrations of these radionuclides, the mean absorbed gamma dose and the annual effective dose were evaluated separately, and found to be 112.90 nGy h-1 and 138.46 μSv y-1 for soil samples and 75.19 nGy h-1 and 92.22 μSv y-1 for beach sand samples, respectively. The results show that İnebolu does not have high background.