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Comparative study of desert truffles from Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East for radionuclide
D al-Azmi1, H R Saad, A R Farhan
1Ministry of Health, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Abstract:
Concentrations of some radionuclides, including 137Cs, in desert truffles in Kuwait were studied and compared with similar samples from other countries in the Middle East, namely Iran, Egypt, and Tunisia. In addition, sand samples from Kuwait were assayed to calculate the transfer factor of the radionuclides under consideration. The measured concentrations of 40K, 226Ra, and 137Cs show that 137Cs is much higher in Egyptian samples, whereas 40K is much lower in samples from Tunisia. The average effective dose equivalent calculated for the Kuwaiti population according to their diet habits was found to be in the range 0.14-0.23 microSv/a. The results are compared with values from other countries.
