Radioactivity in soil from Mojkovac, Montenegro, and assessment of radiological and cancer risk

Soil samples from Mojkovac, Montenegro, were analyzed by standard gamma-spectrometry for radioactivity due to 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs. Average activity concentrations have been found to be 28.6, 43.1, 620.8, and 55 Bq/kg, respectively. In order to evaluate the radiation hazard, radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose, external and internal hazard indexes, and the annual gonadal dose equivalent were determined and found to be at an average of 133.79 Bq/kg, 65.18 nGy/h, 79.93 mSv/y, 0.37, 0.45, and 0.46 mSv/y, respectively. With life expectancy taken to be 70 years, a mean lifetime outdoor gamma radiation was calculated as 5.6 mSv, yielding a lifetime cancer risk of 2.8×10-4.