en Radiobiology Radiobiology تحقيق بديع Original Research <div style="text-align: justify;">Background: Natural and artificial radioactive materials are the most important sources of radiation for human existing in all over the world, thus investigating their radioactivity is of great importance because of their ionizing properties and harmful effects on human health. Therefore, this study was conducted to measure radionuclides concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs in sediment samples collected from various hot springs in Kerman province and also determining received annual effective dose. Materials and Methods: Thirteen sediment samples were collected from different hot springs and concentrations of radionuclides in sediment samples were measured via spectrometry method and using HPGe detector. To evaluate radiation hazards caused by these radionuclides, radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate in air, and annual effective dose of samples were calculated. Results: Concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs in sediment samples varied from 21.01&plusmn;0.71 to 193.16&plusmn;1.72, 16.84&plusmn;1.21 to 245.92&plusmn;2.69, 90.13&plusmn;3.37 to 667.81&plusmn;14.59 and <MDA to 5.81&plusmn;0.66 Bqkg^-1, respectively. Also, minimum and maximum values of annual effective dose were determined as 0.17&plusmn;0.00 and 1.48&plusmn;0.01 in mSvy^-1, respectively. Conclusion: Comparison of radionuclides concentrations and annual effective dose obtained in this study with the worlds̓ average values determined by UNSCEAR (2000) reports showed that concentrations of ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th in 69% and concentration of ⁴⁰K in 46% of measured samples were higher than the worlds̓ average values. Also, annual effective dose of 30% of samples was found to be higher than the worlds̓ average value.</div> &nbsp; 223 228 http://ijrr.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2188-86&slc_lang=en&sid=1 P. Mehnati 7900319475328460020930 7900319475328460020930 No Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran A. Jomehzadeh 7900319475328460020931 7900319475328460020931 No Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran V. Doostmohammadi v64mohamadi@gmail.com 7900319475328460020932 7900319475328460020932 Yes Department of Medical Physics, Medical Radiation Sciences Research Team, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran