Determination of 106Ru, 134/137Cs, and 241Am concentrations and Action Level in the Foodstuffs Consumed by Inhabitants of Iraq

The specific activity concentrations of (¹⁰⁶Ru, ^134/137Cs, and ²⁴¹Am) nuclides in 40 imported foodstuffs which collected randomly in January 2012 from all Iraqi cities markets were studied. The rang of specific activity concentrations of ¹⁰⁶Ru varies from (37.930±6.16) Bq kg^-1 (S No. :17: Turkey Kidney bean) to 99.735±9.99 Bq kg^-1 (S No.:32: Egypt Broad bean), with average value 71.667±8.47 Bq kg^-1 . For ¹³⁴Cs varies from 0.200±0.45 Bq kg¹ (S No. :19 : Ukraine Chick-pea) to 2.365±1.54 Bq kg-¹ (S No. :33 : Peru Broad bean) with average value (0.988±0.99) Bq kg^-1 .The activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs varies from 0.164±0.40 Bq kg^-1 (S No.:19 : Ukraine Chick-pea) to 5.291±2.30 Bq kg-1 ( S No.: 39: Uzbekistan Mung bean) with average value 1.460±1.21, then for 241Am the activity concentrations varies from 0.029±0.17 Bq kg^-1 (S No.:23 : Iran Chick-pea) to 1.248±1.12 Bq kg^-1 (S No.:40: Canada Green peas) with average value 0.399±0.63. All the values were less than the World average concentrations [15,17]. The high contributor for 106Ru, ^134/137Cs, and ²⁴¹Am radionuclides were in Broad bean and other foodstuffs (which contained Brown grit, White grit, Mung bean and Green peas) as a 12%, Broad bean as 14%, corn as a 19% and other foodstuffs with 15% respectively The lowest contributor of ¹⁰⁶Ru, ^134/137Cs, and ²⁴¹Am radionuclides in the studied foodstuffs were 6% in cowpea, 7% in semolina, 5% in lentil and 4% in lentil respectively. The action level of the ¹⁰⁶Ru, ^134/137Cs, and 241Am radionuclide’s for three age groups have been calculated and the foodstuffs were within the range permitted and free of any radiation and thus there was no seriousness in dealing with.