Natural radioactivity and radiological hazards in soil samples in Savannakhet province, Laos

This paper presents the evaluation of natural radioactivity and radiological hazards of the terrestrial naturally occurring radionuclides of \(^{226}\hbox {Ra}\), \(^{232}\hbox {Th}\) and \(^{40}\hbox {K}\) in Savannakhet province, Laos. The activity concentrations of \(^{226}\hbox {Ra}\), \(^{232}\hbox {Th}\) and \(^{40}\hbox {K}\) are in the range of 6.6–73.6, 3.8–113.8 and 13.6–906.4 Bq kg\(^{-1}\), with the average values of \(22.4 \pm 2.1\), \(30.8 \pm 2.9\) and \(211.6 \pm 16.5\) Bq kg\(^{-1}\), respectively. The average radium equivalent activity \(\hbox {Ra}_\mathrm{eq}\) is calculated as \(82.8\pm 9.7\) Bq kg\(^{-1}\), which is smaller than the safety limit of 370 Bq kg\(^{-1}\). Radiological hazard indices have also been evaluated in comparison with the world average values.