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A radiological characterization of soil samples around the Afsin-Elbistan coal-fired thermal power plant in the Mediterranean region of Turkey was carried out. Moreover, activity concentrations and chemical analyses of coal samples used in this power plant and fly ash and slag samples originating from coal combustion were measured. For this purpose, coal, fly ash, slag, and soil samples were collected from this region. The analysis shows that the samples include relevant natural radionuclides such as 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K. The mean activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K were 167, 44, and 404 Bq • kg -1 , respectively. Obtained values shows that the average radium equivalent activity, air-absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose, and external hazard index for all samples are 258 Bq • kg -1 , 121 nGy • h -1 , 148 µSv • y -1 , and 0.7, respectively. The environmental effect of natural radionuclides caused by coal-fired power plants was considered to be negligible because the Ra eq values of the measured samples are generally lower than the limit value of 370 Bq • kg -1 , equivalent to a gamma dose of 1.5 mSv • y -1 . A comparison of the concentrations obtained in this work with other parts of the world indicates that the radioactivity content of the samples is not significantly different.

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In this study, the activity concentrations of some radionuclides in tap water samples of the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey were measured. The activity concentrations of radionuclides (214)Pb, (214)Bi, (40)K, (226)Ra and (137)Cs were determined using high resolution gamma ray spectrometry. Furthermore, (222)Rn activity concentrations in tap water samples were measured using Liquid Scintillation Counting. The mean specific activities of (214)Pb, (214)Bi, (226)Ra, (40)K, (137)Cs and (222)Rn in tap water samples were 6.73, 6, 19.16, 168.57, 5.45 mBq l(-1) and 10.82 Bq l(-1), respectively. These values are comparable with concentrations reported for other countries. The effective doses were determined due to intake of these radionuclides as a consequence of direct consumption of tap water samples. The estimated effective doses were 6.878 x 10(-4) microSv y(-1) for (214)Pb, 4.800 x 10(-4) microSv y(-1) for (214)Bi, 3.916 microSv y(-1) for (226)Ra, 0.763 microSv y(-1) for (40)K, 0.052 microSv y(-1) for (137)Cs and 5.848 microSv y(-1) for (222)Rn.