Determination of 106Ru,134/137Cs, and 241 Am 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 inJanuary 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) to99.735±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 kg-1 (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.Theactivity 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 (SNo.: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 were106 134/137 241less than the World average concentrations [15,17]. The high contributor for Ru, Cs, and Am radionuclides were in Broadbean and other foodstuffs (which contained Brown grit, White grit, Mung bean and Green peas) as a 12%, Broad bean as 14%, corn asa 19% and other foodstuffs with 15% respectively106 134/137 241The lowest contributor of Ru, Cs, and Am 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 werewithin the range permitted and free of any radiation and thus there was no seriousness in dealing with.