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The Radiological Contamination in AL-Tahreer Tower Building at Baghdad City

Received: 15 April 2017     Accepted: 13 May 2017     Published: 30 June 2017
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Abstract

In this study, evaluation of the radioactivity for AL-Tahreer Tower Building (the Turkish restaurant previously) which located in the center of Baghdad city was implemented. The contamination resulted from bombing the Building by the depleted uranium projectiles. The building consists of 14 floors besides the basement. Radiological characterization was implemented using field and laboratory measurements. The results of radiological surveys by using portable survey meter (CAB-counts per second (cps)) indicated the presence of contaminated soil reached to 60 cps (more than 120 the background radiation level) in addition to the presence of small particles of depleted uranium shells with high levels of contamination reached to 90 cps, compare with (0.5 cps) the background level. While the results of maximum exposure dose rates were 0.6 µSv/hr when the detector of survey meter (Ludlum) put on the contaminated regions at a distance about (0.5 cm). The natural background level of the building at distance one meter was 0.9 µSv/hr. Soil samples had been collected and prepared for measuring according to the international standards and specifications, using gamma spectrometry system which consist of High-purity Germanium Detector with efficiency of 40% and resolution 2.0 keV for Energy 1.332 MeV of 60Co, The laboratory results indicated the presence of high concentrations of Th-234 and Pa-234m isotopes (1550.1 & 3179 Bq/kg respectively) in the soil samples taken from the floors, while the concentrations of Th-234 in natural background soil sample were nearly 40 Bq/kg, Pa-234m not detected. According to the results of radiological characterization (field and laboratory), which showed an increase in radioactivity in the AL-Tahreer Tower Building the protective procedures had been adopted, where the contaminated soil and wastes resulted from decontamination processes collected in the 26 drum of capacity 220 liter, after the transfer of drums to the temporary storage at Tuwaitha site with cooperation of the Directorate of Radioactive Waste Management & Treatment at (MOST). Now the building within the background radiation levels and released by the regulatory body “Radiation Protection Center (RPC)/ Ministry of Environment (MOEN)”.

Published in Radiation Science and Technology (Volume 3, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11
Page(s) 29-35
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Depleted Uranium DU, Evaluation of the Radioactivity, The Radiological Contamination, Decontamination Processes

References
[1] "Environmental Exposure Report: Depleted Uranium in the Gulf War", Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, U.S. Department of Defense, July 31, 1998, p. 157. (Cited in Fahay 1999).
[2] Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use by the U. S. Army: Technical report, U. S. Army Environmental Policy Institute, June, 1995.
[3] U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Depleted Uranium Technical Brief", EPA 402-R-06-011, December, 2006.
[4] Seyhan E., "The depleted uranium (DU) awareness for forensic science practices and risk analysis", Journal of Nuclear Sciences, vol. 1, no. 1, January 2014.
[5] U. S Department of Defense, "Uranium Battlefields", New Mexico, 1993.
[6] Jamal G. A., "Gulf War syndrome – a model for the complexity of biological and environmental interaction with human health", Adverse Drug React Toxicol Rev, vol 17, no 1, pp1–17, 1998.
[7] Zajic V. S., "Review of radioactivity, military, use, and health effects of depleted uranium, Depleted Uranium Review, www.ratical.org/radiation/vzajic, 2001.
[8] Eisenbid, M, "Environmental radioactivity" 3rd Ed; Academic press Inc1987.
[9] United Nations Environment Programme UNEP, "Capacity-building for the Assessment of Depleted Uranium in Iraq", Technical Report, Geneva, August 2007.
[10] IAEA, "characterization of radioactivity contaminated sites for remediation purpose", IAEA-TECDOC-1017, IAEA, Vienna, 1998.
[11] IAEA, "Measurement of Radionuclide’s in Food and the Environment", Technical Report Series 295, IAEA, Vienna, 1989.
[12] Genie 2000 operations tools manual, Canberra Industries Inc., USA, 2001.
[13] Al-Azzawi S., Maarouf B., and Hussein S., “Environmental consequences resulted from the use of DU weapons on soil and air at selected areas in al-Basrah governorate”, Journal of Engineering, college of engineering, University of Baghdad, vol. 7, no. 1, 2002.
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  • APA Style

    Haydar Ahmed Hasan, Takrid Muneam Nafae, Yousif Muhsin Zayir, Zeki Abduljabbar Mansoor. (2017). The Radiological Contamination in AL-Tahreer Tower Building at Baghdad City. Radiation Science and Technology, 3(4), 29-35. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11

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    ACS Style

    Haydar Ahmed Hasan; Takrid Muneam Nafae; Yousif Muhsin Zayir; Zeki Abduljabbar Mansoor. The Radiological Contamination in AL-Tahreer Tower Building at Baghdad City. Radiat. Sci. Technol. 2017, 3(4), 29-35. doi: 10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11

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    AMA Style

    Haydar Ahmed Hasan, Takrid Muneam Nafae, Yousif Muhsin Zayir, Zeki Abduljabbar Mansoor. The Radiological Contamination in AL-Tahreer Tower Building at Baghdad City. Radiat Sci Technol. 2017;3(4):29-35. doi: 10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11,
      author = {Haydar Ahmed Hasan and Takrid Muneam Nafae and Yousif Muhsin Zayir and Zeki Abduljabbar Mansoor},
      title = {The Radiological Contamination in AL-Tahreer Tower Building at Baghdad City},
      journal = {Radiation Science and Technology},
      volume = {3},
      number = {4},
      pages = {29-35},
      doi = {10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.rst.20170304.11},
      abstract = {In this study, evaluation of the radioactivity for AL-Tahreer Tower Building (the Turkish restaurant previously) which located in the center of Baghdad city was implemented. The contamination resulted from bombing the Building by the depleted uranium projectiles. The building consists of 14 floors besides the basement. Radiological characterization was implemented using field and laboratory measurements. The results of radiological surveys by using portable survey meter (CAB-counts per second (cps)) indicated the presence of contaminated soil reached to 60 cps (more than 120 the background radiation level) in addition to the presence of small particles of depleted uranium shells with high levels of contamination reached to 90 cps, compare with (0.5 cps) the background level. While the results of maximum exposure dose rates were 0.6 µSv/hr when the detector of survey meter (Ludlum) put on the contaminated regions at a distance about (0.5 cm). The natural background level of the building at distance one meter was 0.9 µSv/hr. Soil samples had been collected and prepared for measuring according to the international standards and specifications, using gamma spectrometry system which consist of High-purity Germanium Detector with efficiency of 40% and resolution 2.0 keV for Energy 1.332 MeV of 60Co, The laboratory results indicated the presence of high concentrations of Th-234 and Pa-234m isotopes (1550.1 & 3179 Bq/kg respectively) in the soil samples taken from the floors, while the concentrations of Th-234 in natural background soil sample were nearly 40 Bq/kg, Pa-234m not detected. According to the results of radiological characterization (field and laboratory), which showed an increase in radioactivity in the AL-Tahreer Tower Building the protective procedures had been adopted, where the contaminated soil and wastes resulted from decontamination processes collected in the 26 drum of capacity 220 liter, after the transfer of drums to the temporary storage at Tuwaitha site with cooperation of the Directorate of Radioactive Waste Management & Treatment at (MOST). Now the building within the background radiation levels and released by the regulatory body “Radiation Protection Center (RPC)/ Ministry of Environment (MOEN)”.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - The Radiological Contamination in AL-Tahreer Tower Building at Baghdad City
    AU  - Haydar Ahmed Hasan
    AU  - Takrid Muneam Nafae
    AU  - Yousif Muhsin Zayir
    AU  - Zeki Abduljabbar Mansoor
    Y1  - 2017/06/30
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11
    T2  - Radiation Science and Technology
    JF  - Radiation Science and Technology
    JO  - Radiation Science and Technology
    SP  - 29
    EP  - 35
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-5943
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170304.11
    AB  - In this study, evaluation of the radioactivity for AL-Tahreer Tower Building (the Turkish restaurant previously) which located in the center of Baghdad city was implemented. The contamination resulted from bombing the Building by the depleted uranium projectiles. The building consists of 14 floors besides the basement. Radiological characterization was implemented using field and laboratory measurements. The results of radiological surveys by using portable survey meter (CAB-counts per second (cps)) indicated the presence of contaminated soil reached to 60 cps (more than 120 the background radiation level) in addition to the presence of small particles of depleted uranium shells with high levels of contamination reached to 90 cps, compare with (0.5 cps) the background level. While the results of maximum exposure dose rates were 0.6 µSv/hr when the detector of survey meter (Ludlum) put on the contaminated regions at a distance about (0.5 cm). The natural background level of the building at distance one meter was 0.9 µSv/hr. Soil samples had been collected and prepared for measuring according to the international standards and specifications, using gamma spectrometry system which consist of High-purity Germanium Detector with efficiency of 40% and resolution 2.0 keV for Energy 1.332 MeV of 60Co, The laboratory results indicated the presence of high concentrations of Th-234 and Pa-234m isotopes (1550.1 & 3179 Bq/kg respectively) in the soil samples taken from the floors, while the concentrations of Th-234 in natural background soil sample were nearly 40 Bq/kg, Pa-234m not detected. According to the results of radiological characterization (field and laboratory), which showed an increase in radioactivity in the AL-Tahreer Tower Building the protective procedures had been adopted, where the contaminated soil and wastes resulted from decontamination processes collected in the 26 drum of capacity 220 liter, after the transfer of drums to the temporary storage at Tuwaitha site with cooperation of the Directorate of Radioactive Waste Management & Treatment at (MOST). Now the building within the background radiation levels and released by the regulatory body “Radiation Protection Center (RPC)/ Ministry of Environment (MOEN)”.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Radiation and Nuclear Safety Directorate (RNSD), Baghdad, Iraq

  • Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Radiation and Nuclear Safety Directorate (RNSD), Baghdad, Iraq

  • Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Radiation and Nuclear Safety Directorate (RNSD), Baghdad, Iraq

  • Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Radiation and Nuclear Safety Directorate (RNSD), Baghdad, Iraq

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