Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering

Utilities of GIS and Remote Sensing Data in the Spatial Analysis of the Radioactive Contamination Site inNineveh Province

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• Abstract

  The destruction of the Iraq’s nuclear facilities through the wars (1991, 2003) led to create many sources of radioactive waste and contamination. These sources are distributed in different parts of Iraq. One of these parts are in Nineveh Province (390 km to the north of Baghdad). The present study addresses two of the radioactive waste and contamination sites which are called Al-Jezira (or Al-Rayhania) and Addaya. The two sites located in the northwestern of Mosul city. Al-Rayhania site is one of the sites that were part of Iraq's past nuclear program, it was destroyed by the inspection committees that came to inspect and monitor Iraqi weapons programs during the previous nineties. The present study depends on QuickBird satellite image acquired at 2007, Enhancement Thematic Mapper (ETM) data of Landsat7 acquired at 2002 and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with spatial resolution of (30m) to study the effect of the surface terrain of the study site on the spread of radioactive waste. ArcGIS9.3 Desktop, Erdas9.1, and Global Mapper11.0, RiverTools3.0 package software have been used to complete the research methodology to produce the final maps (Contour map, Slop map, Aspect map and drainage pattern map) of the study site. Through study and analysis of these maps, it can found the ways to curb the spread and the effect of the radioactive contamination on the water resources.