Natural radioactivity levels in some vegetable crops under greenhouse conditions

Estimating any radioactivity released into the environment is critical for public health protection, particularly if the radioactivity can enter the food chain. In the present work, the activity concentration of natural radionuclides in the soil, water, plants, and fruits of four vegetable crops, namely cucumber, sweet pepper, hot pepper, and tomato, growing under greenhouse conditions has been measured using a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) Detector. The measured activity concentrations for ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in the studied soil samples ranged from 4.7 to 6.8, 3.4 to 6.1, and 63.9 to 112.4 Bq kg^-1, respectively, while in plants, they ranged from Not Detected (ND) to 15.2, ND to 3.4, and 495.1 to 1467.4 Bq kg^-1, respectively. The measured activity concentrations for ⁴⁰K in the studied fruit samples ranged from 967.1 to 1459.1 Bq kg^-1, while ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th were not detected. The Transfer Factor (TF) of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K from soil to plants and fruits has been evaluated, and the results from soil to plants varied from ND to 2.5, ND to 0.8, and 6.0 to 19.2, while the results for ⁴⁰K in fruits varied from 8.7 to 18.4, while ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th were not detected.