D. Al-azmi et al., Comparative study of desert truffles from Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East for radionuclide concentration, BIOL TR EL, 71-2, 1999, pp. 309-315
Concentrations of some radionuclides, including Cs-137, in desert truffles
in Kuwait were studied and compared with similar samples from other countri
es in the Middle East, namely Iran, Egypt, and Tunisia. In addition, sand s
amples from Kuwait were assayed to calculate the transfer factor of the rad
ionuclides under consideration. The measured concentrations of K-40, Ra-226
, and Cs-137 show that Cs-137 is much higher in Egyptian samples, whereas K
-40 is much lower in samples from Tunisia. The average effective dose equiv
alent calculated for the Kuwaiti population according to their diet habits
was found to be in the range 0.14-0.23 mu S-v/a. The results are compared w
ith values from other countries.