No abstract

No abstract

Alkali‐borosilicate glass samples doped with 0.04‐0.7 mol % of neodymium oxide (20SiO2‐(50‐x) H3BO3‐20Na2CO3‐10ZnO‐xNd2O3) have been prepared by the melt quenching method. Thermoluminescence (TL) properties such as: dose–response, thermal fading, minimum detectable dose, and reproducibility of the gamma irradiated samples were investigated. Kinetic and trapping parameters such as trap depth, kinetic order, and frequency factor were studied by using the glow curve shape, initial rise and computerized glow curve de‐convolution (GCDC) methods. Among the studied concentrations, the obtained results showed that alkali‐borosilicate glass doped with 0.15 mol % neodymium oxide is the most sensitive one. This glass composition has a good linear TL gamma dose–response over a wide dose range of 0.5‐1000 Gy, as well as low fading and excellent reproducibility. These obtained features recommend the new prepared glass for many radiation detection applications.

Up until this moment, there was no detailed study concerning the kinetic parameters of zinc-doped borosilicate glass thermoluminescent (TL) material. A significant TL peak was observed upon gamma irradiating the samples, at around 185°C. Evaluating activation energy (E), frequency factor (s), and order of kinetics (b) were conventionally obtained by peak shape (PS) method, repeated initial rise (RIR), and variable heating rate (VHR) methods. The obtained results indicated that the zinc-doped borosilicate glass glow curve after gamma irradiation is legitimately a superposition of seven interfered glow peaks. Therefore, we cannot use computerized glow curve deconvolution (CGCD) method alone in determining the kinetic parameters in this case. Additive dose (AD), repeated initial raise (RIR), and variable heating rate (VHR) methods together with computerized deconvolution (CGCD) method by using the TolAnal software have been applied to determine the kinetic parameters of zinc-borosilicate glass due to the existence of several nearby overlapped peaks. RIR method gives the value of AE 2.3% average variation, for the activation energies, compared with those obtained by GCDC. The obtained results clearly show the consequences reliability. K E Y W O R D Sborosilicate, ionizing radiation, kinetic parameters, thermoluminescence, zinc

Inhalation and ingestion of radon gas constitute grave health hazards. Water of different types and resources is one of the famous radon sources beside soil, building materials, and natural gas. The dissolved radon concentrations in drinking and ground water samples collected from various locations in Jazan area, Saudi Arabia were measured by using sealed cup technique. About 110 water samples were collected from ground and drinking water from 11 different locations. The weighted mean value of the radon activity levels in drinking and ground water were 2.47 ± 0.14 and 2.95 ± 0.22 Bq/l, respectively. Also, the weighted mean of the total annual effective doses from ingestion and inhalation of drinking and ground water were 24.25 ± 1.33 and 28.99 ± 2.12 µSv, respectively, which is lower than the safe limit of 0.1 mSv/y. Results reveal that there is no significant public health risk from radon ingested and inhalation of drinking and ground water in the study area.