Radiological assessment of natural radionuclide contents in soils from Omala, Kogi State, Nigeria

High purity germanium detector (HPGe) was employed to assess radionuclide contents of
²³⁸
U,
⁴⁰
K and
²³²
Th in soils obtained from Omala, Kogi State, Nigeria. The activities measured vary from 9.0 to 82.2, 12.3 to 114.86 and below detector limit (BDL) and 349.0 Bq Kg
^-1
in
²³⁸
U,
²³²
Th and
⁴⁰
K respectively. Highest activities for the three radionuclides were consistently obtained from soil samples got from Igaliwu. The measured activities were engaged to estimate the absorbed dose, annual outdoor effective dose and gamma index. It was observed from the absorbed dose, annual equivalent dose and the gamma index estimated that soils from Igaliwu, Ijeke-ogene and Bagana were found to be higher than the recommended safe limit for normal background. This suggests that those living or using the soil for construction purposes are exposed to high radiation burden from natural radionuclides.