Natural radioactivity assessment in soil samples from Kirkuk city of Iraq using HPGe detector

Background: inspection of the level of radioactivity from radionuclides in soilis important for the assessment of the exposure to natural radiation.materials and methods: ten samples from soil were collected from differentsites of kirkuk-iraq and the level of natural radioactivity was measured usinggamma-ray spectrometry based on a high purity germanium (hpge) detector.results: it was found that the specific activity ranged from 27.4 to 57.0 bqkg^−1 for ^226ra, from 11.0 to 25.4 bq kg^−1 for ^232th, and from 207.4 to 516.0 bqkg^−1 for ^40k. the results have been compared with the average valuesworldwide. the hazard indices have also been calculated. in general certainaverage values were found to be lower than the world average values; theseincluded the average value of the radium equivalent activity (raeq), theabsorbed gamma dose rate (d), the external and internal hazard hex and hin,the gamma radiation representative level index (iγ) and the outdoor andindoor annual effective dose rate (aede) conclusion: in general there are noharmful radiations effects posed to the population who live in the study area;however there are some spots which have values higher than theinternationally allowable values.