Assessment of radiation hazard indices for sand samples from Ma'rib in Yemen

Background: this study aimed to investigate the radiation hazard indices from sand samples of ma’rib governorate in yemen, where the majority of oil and gas facilities are installed. methods and materials: thirty five samples of desert sand from ma’rib governorate in yemen were collected and tested their radiation hazard indices by using high purity germanium (hpge) detector. results: based on the measurement of the concentrations of 226ra, 232th, and 40k, the radium equivalent activity (raeq), the activity concentration index (iy), the external hazard index (hex) and the internal hazard index (hin) were all calculated. also, the absorbed dose rate in air (adr) and the annual effective dose (aed) are calculated. conclusions: comparing the practically attained results with internationally permissible values, it was found that most of the radiological parameters, including the radiation hazard indices of the studied samples, fall within the world's permissible limits and don't expose risks to the human beings and environments.