Radiological safety assessment inside ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara

ABSTRACT

Many archaeological sites in Egypt are unique worldwide, such as ancient tombs and pyramids, because they document fundamental developments in human civilization that took place several thousands of years ago. For this reason, these sites are visited by numerous visitors every year. The present work is devoted to provide a pre-operational radiological baseline needed to quantify occupational radiation exposure at the famous Saqqara region in Cairo, Egypt. A hyperpure Ge detector has been used in the γ-ray spectrometric analysis while the ²²²Rn concentration was measured using a portable radon monitor RTM 1688-2, SARAD. The mean specific activities of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in the samples collected from the interior walls of the Saqqara tombs were determined and found to show average values of 16, 8.5 and 45 Bq kg⁻¹, respectively. The concentration of radon was measured inside the tombs Serapeum, South tomb and the Zoser Pyramid (fifth level) and an associated average working level of 0.83 WL was obtained. In order to avoid the health hazards associated with the exposure to radon during the long period of work inside these tombs, proposed solutions are introduced.

KEYWORDS:

• Ancient Egyptian tombs
• natural radioactivity
• radiation exposure
• radon-222
• radioactive nuclides
• Saqqara

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

S. U. El-Kameesy has got his PhD in the field of nuclear physics from Bucharest University in 1981. His research work is in the domain of nuclear reactions, nuclear structure and nuclear radioactivity. He was the head of the Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Email: [email protected]

E. Salama obtained his PhD in physics from Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University 2006 in the field of nuclear radiation dosimetry. Based on his research work included several publications and theses, Salama has been promoted to the associated professor degree in 2013. Salama has been affiliated also with The British University in Egypt (BUE) since September 2012. Email: [email protected]

S. A. El-Fiki has got here PhD in the field of nuclear physics 1979. Her research work is in the area of radiation detection and environmental radioactivity determination. Elfiki is affiliated with the Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Email: [email protected]

M. Ehab obtained his PhD degree in Nuclear Radiation Physics from Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 2015. He is currently working as lecturer at Basic Science Department, Faculty of Engineering, Future University in Egypt. His research interests include radiological safety assessment, radiation protection. Email: [email protected]

W. Rühm started his research career at the Federal Office of Radiation Protection, Germany, in radioecology and in-vivo counting. At the Radiobiological Institute, University of Munich, he then concentrated on dosimetry of the atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He has served as a consultant for the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) and the US National Academy of Sciences, and received the Japanese Government Research Award in 1997. In 2005 he joined the Helmholtz Center Munich and is currently leading the Medical and Environmental Dosimetry Group. Dr. Rühm is professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Munich. He was member of the Committee of Radiation Risk of the German Radiation Protection Commission (SSK) from 2003 to 2010, and was re-elected in 2013. Since 2005 he is serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Radiation and Environmental Biophysics journal. In the same year he became a member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) (C1). In 2009 he became chair of the EURADOS working group “High Energy Radiation Fields” and he was elected in 2010 as a member of the EURADOS Council. Since 2011 he is vice-chair of the Radiation Protection Association of the German Physical Society, and in 2012 he was appointed as a member of the SSK Working Group on DDREF. In 2014 he was elected Chair of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS). In 2016 he became chair of ICRP Committee 1 on Radiation Effects and has been elected as member of the Main Commission of ICRP. Email: [email protected]