Study of Gross Alpha and Gross Beta Radioactivity in Soils Compared to Airborne RADNET Levels

Since radionuclides can be found in soil, vegetation, air, and water we decided to focus on the correlation between the levels of gross alpha and gross beta radioactivity in the soil and to known airborne levels within the same area and time frame using online RadNet data available from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The soil was primarily chosen for testing due to the unique unstudied geology of the area sampled. The Red Arroyo River is unique due to the fact that it is an active watershed yet it is a stagnant system with almost zero movement of water or sediments unless abundant rainfall occurs. The sampled area was a 0.5 mile portion along the Red Arroyo River in San Angelo, Texas in which 20 total samples were collected. The sampling processes elapsed over a 1 month time period. Soil samples had a gross beta average of 181.45 ± 24.34 Bq kg -1 and gross alpha average of 4.91 ± 1.12 Bq kg -1 respectively.  In comparison, the levels taken from the RadNet (EPA, 2016) system were averaging 0.0475 ± 0.01365 mBq kg -1 for gross alpha and 0.6541 ± 0.2062 mBq  kg -1 during this time. The advantage to these gross beta and gross alpha data sets will to help provide useful data in creating a baseline for the San Angelo, Texas area.