Statistical prediction of environmental gamma radiation doses, in Perak, Malaysia

• Main Authors: Zalina Rahmat, Ismail Bahari, Redzuwan Yahaya, Amran Ab. Majid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2010
• Online Access: http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7378/1/01_Md_Yeaminhossain.pdf; http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7378/; http://www.ukm.my/jsm/english_journals/vol39num4_2010/contentsVol39num4_2010.html
• Institution: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

The concentrations of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) and their corresponding terrestrial gamma radiation have been shown to be associated with certain lithology and soil types. A possible relationships among gamma radiation levels, and the lithology and soil types make it possible to predict ionizing radiation level of an area that cannot be directly measured. A study was carried out to statistically predict and validate environmental gamma radiation dose rates based on actual field measurements using a sodium iodide detector. Results obtained showed that the predicted dose rate (Dp) may be determined using a multiple correlation regression equation, Dp = 0.35DL + 0.82 Ds – 0.02, that integrates dose rates contributed by different lithological structures (DL) and soil types (Ds). Statistical analysis on 32 different lithology and soil type combinations showed that more than 50% of the predicted data were not significantly different from the data measured in the field. A predicted isodose map was subsequently plotted base on 4 dose rate classes ranging from 0.1 – 0.3 μSv h-1.