Measurement of Absorbed Dose Rate from Terrestrial Background Radiation in Hong Kong

Measurements of the absorbed dose rate from soil samples and above the ground at the site, from which the soil samples were taken, were carried out in Hong Kong by means of spectrometric method using a plastic scintillator. Under the present experimental setup used, a correlation factor of 14.9 between the absorbed dose rate at one meter above the ground in site measurement and that of the corresponding soil sample was obtained. The overall average values of 70.5 mrad/y and 15.9 mrad/y were obtained for the absorbed dose rate due to natural radioactivity and fall-out radioactivity, respectively. The absorbed dose rates due to the fall-out differed by a factor of approximately three, between the two geographically separated areas ; StanleySau Ki Wan and Kowloon-N. T.