Measurement of Radon Concentration and the Effective Dose Rate in the Soil of the City of Karbala, Iraq

In this study, we used the can technique, containing CR-39, to estimate the radon concentration from the soils in Karbala city, Karbala governorate, Iraq, radon concentrations and effective dose rate in soil have been measured by using a long-term technique for alpha particle emission with solid state nuclear track detector type CR-39. It has been selected fifty-five different locations for soil houses in the city of Karbala. One detector was buried in the garden of each selected house at 50 cm depth. The results showed variable values for concentrations of radon gas and the effective dose rate, the concentrations of radon ranged from (0.05∓0.02 to 7.80∓3.53 kBq/m with a mean value of 2.87kBq/m and a standard deviation of 1.80 kBq/m. The annual effective dose values varied from (0.23 to 34.74 mSv/y with a mean value of 12.80 mSv/y and a standard deviation of 8.03mSv/y. These results were compared with the local and global results.