Terrestrial and fallout radionuclide fingerprints of sediments from highway stormwater retention ponds Ferat Shala 1 • Merita Kac ¸eli Xhixha 2 • Fadil Hasani 3 • Gerti Xhixha 4 • Giovanni Massa 5 • Fahimeh Ryazi Khyabani 5 • Elona Xhixha 5 • Manjola Shyti 6 Received: 11 March 2017 Ó Akade ´miai Kiado ´, Budapest, Hungary 2017 Abstract The activity concentrations of terrestrial and fallout radionuclides are investigated in soil and sediments from highway stormwater retention ponds. The increased activity of 40 K, 238 U and 232 Th in sediment respect to soil samples (approximately 20% higher) is found to be cor- related with the erosion of clay minerals. Therefore, it can be a useful fingerprint to assess the highway bank stability in long-term measurements. Fallout radionuclides, especially 7 Be gives a clear indication of the well operation of the drainage system and the retention ponds, with activity concentrations in sediment samples up to 131.4 ± 7.8 Bq kg -1 . Finally, these results are used to assess the potential external exposure to gamma radiation of the general population and worker due to maintenance operations. Keywords Natural radioactivity Á Fallout radionuclides Á Beryllium-7 Á Runoff retention pond Á Gamma-ray spectrometry Introduction The drainage systems and retention ponds installed on highways are widely used to reduce and prevent the pol- lution of the surrounding environment by permitting the runoff water loads settle down and accumulating them as sediments. It is recognized that road runoff waters carry significant of pollutants, including hydrocarbons, pesticides and heavy metals [1–3]. However, there is a lack of information regarding the characterization of natural and artificial radioactivity concentration because of runoff water treatment in highway retention pond sediments. The natural radioactivity present in rocks and soils is mainly due to 238 U and 232 Th decay series and to the 40 K radionuclide with concentration varying considerably depending on the geological characteristics of the area [4]. The concentration of radionuclides in river sediments pri- marily depends on the accumulation of clay mobilized from the upstream catchment [5]. Moreover, in many studies of the dynamics of soil and sediments (in river, lake and sea environments), fallout radionuclides ( 137 Cs and 7 Be) are widely used as tracers [6]. 7 Be (with half-life 53.22 days [7]) is a cosmogenic radionuclide continuously produced by spallation reaction through interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric molecules. It is known that 7 Be is absorbed by aerosols and distributed in surface air by various transport mechanisms and then is replenished principally by wet deposition (secondarily dry deposition) on the Earth’s surface [8]. Therefore, it can accumulate providing a fingerprint for sediments. Indeed, high activity concentrations of 7 Be are reported (3.6 kBq kg -1 ) in cer- tain conditions [9]. On the other hand, 137 Cs (with half-life 30.05 years [10]), originating mainly from atmospheric nuclear weapon tests and the Chernobyl nuclear power & Gerti Xhixha gerti.xhixha@fshn.edu.al 1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Pristina ‘‘Hasan Prishtina’’, Bregu i Diellit, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo 2 Faculty of Professional Studies, University ‘‘Aleksande ¨r Moisiu’’ Durre ¨s, Str. Currila 1, 2000 Durre ¨s, Albania 3 Kosovo Agency for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (KARPNS), Ish-Ge ¨rmia, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo 4 Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Blvd. Zogu I, 1001 Tirana, Albania 5 Center for GeoTechnologies, University of Siena, Via Vetri Vecchi 34, 52027 San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy 6 Institute of Applied Nuclear Physics, University of Tirana, Blvd. Zogu I, 1001 Tirana, Albania 123 J Radioanal Nucl Chem DOI 10.1007/s10967-017-5335-6