Investigating the relationship between the background radiation and the physical properties of the soils :

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating the high levels of concentration and the relationship between the background gamma radiation and physical properties of the surrounding soils in Osukuru hills, Tororo District. The emphasis was put to investigate the public exposure to background gamma radiations, sources of background gamma radiations, how these radiations get into human bodies, health effects and create public awareness about the dangers of these radiations as well as appropriate mitigation measures. The coordinates and the exposure rate for different places around Osukuru hills were determined and recorded as well as their characteristics. These places include; Tororo cement industry village, Opedede village, Tikaff “A” village and Tikaff “B” village. The study found out that Opedede Village registered high average exposure rate of 50.0 µR/h and the Tikaff “B” zone registered the least average exposure rate of 32.4 µR/h. The results obtained from this research study revealed that there is a general negative and on average a low correlation between the background gamma radiation and the physical properties of the soil of Osukuru hills. Therefore, the villages with high background gamma radiation may cause and result into increased risks of lung cancer, infertility among other radiation sicknesses if the people get exposed to these background radiations for a long time.