Radiation Protection Measurement in Different Buildings of King Abdulaziz University, and Evaluation of Awareness among Employees

The study aims to measure ionizing radiation in different buildings of King Abdulaziz University and evaluate awareness among the University's employees. Twenty buildings in the University were surveyed in order to measure the ionizing radiation emitted from the buildings. These buildings are classified as new and old buildings while noting that the construction of the new buildings has made use of a range of radiation-emitting sources. The sodium iodide survey meters (Fh-40 and Dsm-500-Sn: D5002001) estimated the dosage rate for the building data. Ionization radiation awareness was measured by distributing a questionnaire to university staff (71). If any, the University's 20 buildings were inspected for ionizing radiation. The faculty of sciences recorded the highest radiation value in the group of new buildings and was 0.9 mSi/Y. In contrast, the lowest value recorded from the I-One building was 0.6583266 mSi/Y. The highest radiation value in the group of old buildings, recorded by the faculty of tourism, was 0.403236 mSi/Y. The lowest result was 0.2524608 mSi/Y from the Faculty of Dentistry. The present study shows that KAU new buildings have a 3 times higher average exposure dosage rate than existing ones. The radiation level of all 20 KAU buildings is below the safety limit (1mSv/y) (ICRP, 2000). Thus, King Abdulaziz University buildings emit safe radiation that does not affect students or staff. University workers have little radiation awareness. Employees should take ionizing radiation awareness classes. This is Saudi Arabia's first research on university personnel' radiation awareness.