Soil Contamination in Nuclear Reactor Surrounding Areas in Savar, Bangladesh using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis Method

In this paper, the contamination level of fourteen elements (Al, Ca, Mg, V, Ti, Na, Mn, As, Br, La, Sm, Sc, U, Yb) from different soil samples of the nuclear reactor surrounding areas in Savar, Bangladesh was investigated with instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) method. Generally, neutron activation is most reliable tool for determining the concentration of the trace elements and heavy metals by measuring the gamma rays released while decaying of the radioisotopes created from the interaction of neutrons with atoms. In this study, the soil contamination level of all heavy metals and trace elements was compared to the range, mean, and median values of the World soil as well as with other studies. The concentration of K (1.65%), U (3.17 mg kg -1 ), Sm (6.10 mgkg -1 ) and Sc (10.53 mg kg -1 ) is relatively higher than that of the World mean value. Furthermore, compared to world range value for soil revealed that the high concentration range is also observed for Al (3.87-9.39%), Na (0.37-0.76%) and Yb (0.11-5.36 mg kg -1 ). However, contamination level of all elements was not evenly distributed in the studied areas. For instance, the pollution levels of U, Yb, Mn, and V were unevenly higher in the areas near to the overhead tank, decay tank, in the vicinity of the underground tank, cooling tower and reactor building area. Interestingly, the contamination level of potassium is high everywhere near the nuclear reactor installations.