Laboratory investigation into the potential effectiveness of soil-based countermeasures for soils contaminated with radiocaesium and radiostrontium

Nisbet, A.F.; Mocanu, N.; Shaw, S.

doi:10.1016/0048-9697(94)90175-9

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…In the roots, there was only a slight decrease in the 134 Cs activity level which was not statistically significant. This decrease in the 134 Cs uptake by the stems was predictable, as it had been observed previously by other workers for different species of plants [1,[3][4][5].…”

Section: Results and Conclusionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…Lastly, the activity levels for 90 Sr with the potassium fertilizer seemed to be slightly higher than those obtained in the unfertilized experiment, although, due to the associated uncertainties, the differences were not statistically significant. The process of transfer of radionuclides from soil to the different fractions was quantified by means of the transfer factors, TF, as defined in Equation (1). The TF values for 134 Cs, 60 Co, and 90 Sr, corresponding to stems and roots and are listed in Table 2.…”

Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of its greater proportion, the stable element is supposed to be taken up to a greater degree than its radioactive counterpart [1]. One of the most usual countermeasures for radiocaesium is the application of chemicals rich in potassium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of the potential disadvantages of chemical countermeasures against the transfer of radiocaesium to plants

2009

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Abstract. Countermeasures to reduce the transfer of a radionuclide from soil to plants are usually based on saturating the soil with a stable element that is a chemical analogue of that radionuclide. But when a radioactive contamination event occurs, it is seldom due to the evacuation of a pure radionuclide such as 137 Cs. Instead, a mixture of radionuclides may be released into the environment. The countermeasures applied to reduce the transfer of one of them may also influence other radionuclides. We have developed an experimental procedure to check whether radiocaesium countermeasures are appropriate when other radionuclides are also involved, or have some disadvantages that may limit their use. It consists of growing wheat seeds under controlled laboratory conditions using Neubauer's plantlet method. This method has been in use for many years as a small-scale screening procedure to check a soil's capacity to provide the potassium that plants need as a nutrient. In particular, we used it to study the effectiveness and the disadvantages of the application of a potassium salt fertilizer to a soil contaminated with 134 Cs, 90 Sr, and 60 Co. This countermeasure indeed reduced the uptake of 134 Cs, but it also enhanced the uptake of 60 Co. This enhancement was higher for the wheat stems than for the roots. For 90 Sr, there was observed a slight increase due to the fertilizer.

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Section: Results and Conclusionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of the potential disadvantages of chemical countermeasures against the transfer of radiocaesium to plants

2009

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“…A wide range of long-term physical, chemical and management-based measures can be taken to reduce the soil-plant-animal transfer of radionuclides and in turn limit their entry into the human food chain (IAEA, 1994). Included are techniques such as deep ploughing (Vovk et al, 1993), soil application of fertilisers (Nisbet et al, 1994), use of binding agents in soils (Vandenhove et al, 1998) or livestock (Voigt, 1993), changes in livestock management (Howard, 1993) or in land use (IAEA, 1994). In the event of a future nuclear accident, it is critical that not only the 'optimal' countermeasure should be selected for each agricultural situation, but also that the benefits gained in lowering the transfer of radionuclides into the human food chain are not outweighed by negative environmental, social or economic impacts from that countermeasure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a spatial decision support system for post-emergency management of radioactively contaminated land

Salt

Dunsmore

2000

Journal of Environmental Management

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“…Zeolites (Ames and Rai, 1978) and Mn oxides/hydroxides also exchange or sorb strontium in soils. Because of the importance of ion exchange, strontium K d s are strongly influenced by ionic strength of the solution, decreasing with increasing ionic strength (Mahoney and Langmuir, 1991;Nisbet et al, 1994); calcium and natural strontium are especially effective at competing with 90 Sr. Strontium in soils is largely exchangeably bound; it does not become fixed with time (Serne and Gore, 1996). However, coprecipitation with calcium sulfate or carbonate and soil phosphates may also contribute to strontium retardation and fixation in soils (Ames and Rai, 1978).…”

Section: Fission Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental geochemistry of radioactive contamination.

Bryan¹,

Siegel²

2003

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This report attempts to describe the geochemical foundations of the behavior of radionuclides in the environment. The information is obtained and applied in three interacting spheres of inquiry and analysis: 1) experimental studies and theoretical calculations, 2) field studies of contaminated and natural analog sites and 3) model predictions of radionuclide behavior in remediation and waste disposal. Analyses of the risks from radioactive contamination require estimation of the rates of release and dispersion of the radionuclides through potential exposure pathways. These processes are controlled by solubility, speciation, sorption, and colloidal transport, which are strong functions of the compositions of the groundwater and geomedia as well as the atomic structure of the radionuclides.The chemistry of the fission products is relatively simple compared to the actinides. Because of their relatively short half-lives, fission products account for a large fraction of the radioactivity in nuclear waste for the first several hundred years but do not represent a long-term hazard in the environment. The chemistry of the longer-lived actinides is complex; however, some trends in their behavior can be described. Actinide elements of a given oxidation state have either similar or systematically varying chemical properties due to similarities in ionic size, coordination number, valence, and electron structure. In dilute aqueous systems at neutral to basic pH, the dominant actinide species are hydroxy-and carbonato-complexes, and the solubility-limiting solid phases are commonly oxides, hydroxides or carbonates. In general, actinide sorption will decrease in the presence of ligands that complex with the radionuclide; sorption of the (IV) species of actinides (Np, Pu, U) is generally greater than of the (V) species.The geochemistry of key radionuclides in three different environments is described in this report. These include: 1) low ionic strength reducing waters from crystalline rocks at nuclear waste research 4 sites in Sweden; 2) oxic water from the J-13 well at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the site of a proposed repository for high level nuclear waste (HLW) in tuffaceous rocks; and 3) reference brines associated with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The transport behaviors of radionuclides associated with the Chernobyl reactor accident and the Oklo Natural Reactor are described. These examples span wide temporal and spatial scales and include the rapid geochemical and physical processes important to nuclear reactor accidents or industrial discharges as well as the slower processes important to the geologic disposal of nuclear waste.Application of geochemical information to remediating or assessing the risk posed by radioactive contamination is the final subject of this report. After radioactive source terms have been removed, large volumes of soil and water with low but potentially hazardous levels of contamination may remain. For poorly-sorbing radionuclides, capture of contaminated water and removal of radi...

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Laboratory investigation into the potential effectiveness of soil-based countermeasures for soils contaminated with radiocaesium and radiostrontium

Cited by 15 publications

References 10 publications

Analysis of the potential disadvantages of chemical countermeasures against the transfer of radiocaesium to plants

Analysis of the potential disadvantages of chemical countermeasures against the transfer of radiocaesium to plants

Development of a spatial decision support system for post-emergency management of radioactively contaminated land

Environmental geochemistry of radioactive contamination.

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