Radiological profle of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in agricultural area around Blue Nile State, Sudan

This study aims to build a radiation map and evaluate the radiological risk for humans and non-humans from soils in agricultural areas surrounding Blue Nile State, Sudan. The 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K radioactivity of soil samples were measured using gamma-ray systems (HPGe). The average values for 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K were 24.2±7.3 Bqkg−1, 31.0±8.2 Bqkg−1, and 376.4±174.0 Bqkg−1, respectively. The radioactivity level was lower than the global averages of 226Ra (35 Bqkg−1), 232Th (45 Bqkg−1), and 40K (420 Bqkg−1). Human radiological risk exhibited that the average values of the dose rate and annual effective dose rates were 32.00 nGyh−1 and 40.08 µSvy−1, respectively. The average dose rate and annual effective dose rates were lower than the worldwide average absorbed dose rate of 60 nGyh−1, and ICRP recommended reference of 1.0 mSvy−1. Therefore, the radiological effects of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in the study area are negligible. On the other hand, the radiological risk for non-human organisms indicates that the projected total dose rate per organism in birds was lower than the background dose rates, which is in accordance with the background dose rates. However, the overall dose rate for amphibian, reptile, and mammal-large, mammal-small burrowing exceeds the background exposure rate.