For (134/137)Cs, and many other soil contaminants, research into transfer to plants has focused on particular crops and phytoremediation candidates, producing uptake data for a small proportion of all plant taxa. Despite the significance of differences in uptake between plant taxa, the capacity of soil-to-plant transfer models to predict them is currently confined to those taxa for which data exist, there being no method to predict uptake by other taxa. We used residual maximum likelihood (REML) analysis on data from experiments (including 89 plant taxa from China plus 32 phytoremediation candidates) together with data from the literature, to construct a database of relative (134/137)Cs concentrations in 273 plant taxa. The REML (134/137)Cs concentrations in plants are not normally distributed but significantly clustered. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), coded with a recent ordinal phylogeny for flowering plants, showed that plant taxa do not behave independently for (134/137)Cs concentration because 42 and 15% of inter-taxa differences are associated with phylogeny above the species and ordinal level, respectively. In general, Eudicots, and especially the Caryophyllales, Asterales, and Brassicales, have high (134/137)Cs concentrations, while the Fabales and Magnoliids, in particular Poales, have low (134/137)Cs concentrations. Plants of the stress-tolerant ruderal (S-R) growth strategy sensu Grime have, in general, high concentrations of Cs, while those of the competitive (C) and generalist (C-S-R) strategies have low concentrations, although these effects are less pronounced than those of phylogeny. Plant phylogeny and growth strategy might thus be used to predict a significant portion of inter-taxa differences in plant uptake of (134/137)Cs.
SummaryThe last phase for MAGNOX ELECTRIC plc's reactor decommissioning strategy is site clearance and delicencing. Phytoextraction of 137 Cs may be able to assist in meeting this objective. Field trials using Beta vulgaris conducted at Bradwell Nuclear Power Station, Essex, UK, aimed to show whether phytoextraction might be a practical remediation technique for 137 Cs contaminated land. These trials appear to show that soil-to-plant transfer of 137 137 Cs contaminated soils will require increased 137 Cs removal rates. Increased soil availability of 137 Cs to the plant, improved agronomic regimes and safe disposal methods for harvested plant biomass will also be essential to the practical implementation of 137 Cs phytoextraction.
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