Effects of the deterioration in construction materials industry on the radioactivity background in Baghdad city

Abstract

The potential presence of radioactivity in construction materials is considered as one of the major causes of health hazards for the residents and inhabitants of various kinds of buildings either directly or indirectly via transition through the air to their food chain. The constructions materials industry of Iraq have faced devastating damages due to the many huge armed conflicts from 1980 to the current date but it was almost gone after 2003, which forced constructors to the use of various and majorly cheap regional sources that pass no quality control tests across the borders. This paper aims to study the radioactivity status at residential areas in Baghdad city in order to assess its safety for the lives of human being, animals and plants via the use of ɣ-ray spectrometer system that is based on Germanium high pure GHP detector. Indoor samples are compared to outdoor ones in order to make clear figuration for the share of construction material in radioactivity background. Results have shown that old buildings have lower radioactivity rates than the newly constructed ones; after 2003, in an interesting remark to the unsafety of imported cheap construction materials after that year due to the damage of the national industry. Outdoor samples have shown much less radioactivity as compared to indoor ones especially for these considerably far from buildings, but both indoor and outdoor samples have shown higher radioactivity rates when compared to these reported in the United States of America and some European countries.