Comparative study of desert truffles from Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East for radionuclide concentration

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.