Analysis of Radionuclides and Rare Earth Elements Content in Soil Samples Using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscopy Method Ismail Humolungo (a), Sidik permana (a,b,c*), Adi R.A Abdullah (b), Zulfahmi (a), Haryo Seno (d)
a) Master Program in Nuclear Science and Engineering Department, Bandung Institue of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia
b) Doctoral Program in Nuclear Engineering Department, Bandung Institue of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia.
c) Physics Department, Bandung Institue of Technology, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung, Indonesia
*psidik[at]itb.ac.id
d) Indonesia^s National Research and Inovation Agency. Jl. Tamansari No. 71, Bandung, Indonesia.
Abstract
The high average natural gamma radiation dose rate in Mamuju Regency and Bangka-Belitung Island shows the uniqueness associated with high concentrations of the radioactive elements uranium, thorium and potassium precipitated in rocks and soil. Geological activity in the past is the main cause in the two areas to form radioactive mineral deposits. In this study, an XRF test was carried out with the ED-XRF tool on soil samples taken from the two locations with the aim of identifying radioactive compounds and elements. 18 soil samples from Mamuju Regency and 4 samples from Bangka Island were tested at the Physics Laboratory, State University of Gorontalo. Tests were carried out on 2 forms of samples in the form of powder and pellets. The results show that the measurement of all samples in powder form can detect the chemical compounds contained therein, among those detected are rare earth elements such as Y2O3, ZrO2, La2O3, CeO2, Pr6O11, Nd2O3, and BaO. While the measurement of samples in the form of pellets aimed at detecting radioactive elements, only 5 samples from Mamuju Regency showed Uranium (U), Thorium (Th), Potassium (K) elements. The five samples showed concentrations of uranium (U) varying from 566.90 ppm to 1428.27 ppm and thorium (Th) from 1714.39 ppm to 5695.48 ppm, and potassium (K) from 1600.83 ppm to 31371.76 ppm. The high concentration of radioactive elements is in line with previous measurements of the radiation dose rate.
