Factors affecting the transfer of radionuclides from the environment to plants

Abstract

Much of our food directly or indirectly originates from plant material; thus, detailed studies on plant contamination processes are an essential part of international environmental research. This overview attempts to identify and describe the most important parameters and processes affecting the behaviour of radionuclide transfer to plants. Many parameters influence these processes. These parameters are related to: (1) plant, (2) soil, (3) radionuclide, (4) climate and (5) time. Often there is no boundary between the factors and they are linked to each other. Knowledge of important factors in radionuclide transfer to plants can help to assess and prevent radiological exposure of humans. This knowledge can also help to guide researches and modelling related to transfer of radionuclides to food chain.

Transfer of 137Cs and 40K from Agricultural Soils to Food Products in Terrestrial Environment of Tarapur, India

“…A negative Pearson correlation coefficient R=−0.35 was observed for 40 K TF S-G and 137 Cs TF S-G . The analysis indicates that there is a moderate linear positive correlation between 137 Cs in grass and 137 Cs in soil, as expected because as the concentration of 137 Cs in soil increases the transfer of 137 Cs also increases, though it is affected by many other soil parameters like clay mineralogy, i.e., the type of clay mineral present in soil, redox potential, microbial activity (Golmakani et al 2008;Korabova and Chizhikova 2007). Similarly, there is a negative correlation between 137 Cs TF S-G and 40 K TF S-G , which shows that as 40 K TF S-G increases there is a decrease in the transfer of 137 Cs.…”

“…Consequently, high K concentration in soil acts as an inhibitor and prevents Cs uptake (Belli 2006). The soil-to-plant transfer factor (TF S-P ) was calculated using the formula: The clay mineral present in the soil is used as a fixation material by 137 Cs, which may inhibit the bioavailability or can stay fixed to clay mineral depending upon other soil parameters like clay mineralogy, i.e., the type of clay mineral present in soil, redox potential, and microbial activity, which are not included in the present study (Golmakani et al 2008;Korabova and Chizhikova 2007). As described by Thiry and Myttenaere (1993), it is generally accepted that following the Chernobyl accident, radiocesium has been retained in the soil surface mainly due to reaction with clay and humic components and soil microflora.…”

Natural radioactivity in winter wheat from organic and conventional agricultural systems

“…One could suggest that due to the increased levels of natural radionuclides ( 40 K and the 238, 235 U and 232 Th decay chains) in many types of synthetic fertilisers, one should be able to distinguish organic and conventional food products from each other by measuring the content of natural radionuclides. There are, however, many factors contributing to the amount of natural radioactivity taken up by plants (Golmakani et al, 2008) among them those related to the plant itself like the plant species, age of plant parts, depth of roots, etc. or to the soil like the kind of soil, organic matter content, pH, CEC, etc, or to the radionuclides (e.g.…”

Toxicodynamic modeling of 137Cs to estimate white-tailed deer background levels for the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site

“…However, a component that cannot be ignored that will affect the soils ability to retain 137Cs especially in sandy soils is rainfall. During drought years, 137Cs is much more bioavailable in many soil types (Golmakani et al 2008;Goor et al 2003;Heckman and Kamprath 1992;Hinton et al 2006;Leigh and Johnston 1983;Nimis 1996). This is most likely demonstrated in the variability of the data for nonindustrial impacted compartments throughout the SRS.…”