Radioactivity levels and hazards of soil and sediment samples collected from Damietta and Rashid branches of the River Nile, Egypt

Sixty soil and ninety sediment samples were collected from the banks of different cities located in Rashid and Damietta branches of the River Nile. Natural radioactivity concentrations of 238 U, 232 Th and 40 K have been evaluated for all samples by means of gamma spectrometric analysis using hyper pure Ge detector. The radioactivity levels for both soil and sediments samples fall within the international recommended values. Nevertheless , a high natural background radiation zones are detected at Kafr-Elzayyat region due to the presence of a fertilizer factory and at Rashid region due to the presence of black sand deposits that are dominated their. The radiation hazards (absorbed dose rate, radium equivalent activity, the annual effective dose equivalent, hazard indices, gamma index and excess life time cancer risk) are calculated and compared with the previously reported data. High values for some of the radiation health parameters are adopted at Kafr-Elzayyat and Rashid regions representing a serious problem to public because they use the soil and sediment as constructing materials for their buildings.