Abstract

• The activities of naturally occurring radionuclides in five soil samples from the industrial area of Mandalay were calculated from experimental results which were obtained by using a NaI(Tl) detector. From these results, the percentage contribution of the radioactivity in the soil samples was shown with the greater percentage K-40 (81.08%), Ra-226 (10.29%) and Th-232 (8.63%). The calculated amounts of radionuclides were compared with their maximum admissible limits of UNSCEAR (2000). In order to assess the radiological hazards of the radioactivity in soil, radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, external and internal hazard indices were calculated and the computed hazards were shown with average values of 228.33 Bq/kg, 106.26 nGy/h, 0.62 and 0.84 respectively. The present result was shown that the mean external and internal hazard indices value was less than 1.0, as recommended for safety globally (EC, 1999).