Natural radionuclides in trees grown on a uranium mill tailings waste pile

Štrok, Marko; Smodiš, Borut; Eler, Klemen

doi:10.1007/s11356-011-0499-z

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Higher TFs for the radionuclides were found in the leaves than in barks for pines. This is comparable to the findings of Strok et al (2011). According to the authors, this allocation pattern is expected once in leaves the need for nutrients is higher, although the transpiration rate and metal accumulation can be regulated by the plants, is species specific and can also be affected by environmental factors ( Strok et al, 2011).…”

Section: Uptake Of Radionuclides By Pine Tree and Eucalyptus Species supporting

confidence: 87%

“…This is comparable to the findings of Strok et al (2011). According to the authors, this allocation pattern is expected once in leaves the need for nutrients is higher, although the transpiration rate and metal accumulation can be regulated by the plants, is species specific and can also be affected by environmental factors ( Strok et al, 2011). For example, a major contributing pathway to radionuclides absorption by vegetables is atmospheric deposition, which is little investigated when evaluating the root uptake of elements (Mitchell et al, 2013).…”

Section: Uptake Of Radionuclides By Pine Tree and Eucalyptus Species supporting

confidence: 80%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Natural radionuclides in plants, soils and sediments affected by U-rich coal mining activities in Brazil

Galhardi

Garcı́a-Tenorio

Bonotto

et al. 2017

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mining activities can increase the mobility of metals by accelerating the dissolution and leaching of minerals from the rocks and tailing piles to the environment and, consequently, their availability for plants and subsequent transfer to the food chain. The weathering of minerals and the disposal of coal waste in tailing piles can accelerate the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD), which is responsible for the higher dissolution of metals in mining areas. In this context, the behavior of U, Th and K in soils and sediment, and the transfer factor (TF) of U,U and Po for soybean, wheat, pine and eucalyptus cultivated around a coal mine in southern Brazil was evaluated. Alpha and gamma spectrometry were used for the measurements of the activity concentration of the radioelements.Po was the radionuclide that is most accumulated in the plants, especially in the leaves. When comparing the plant species, pine showed the highest TF values for U (0.311 ± 0.420) for leaves, while eucalyptus showed the highest TF forU (0.344 ± 0.414) for leaves. In general, TF were higher for the leaves of soybean and wheat when compared to the grains, and grains of wheat showed higher TF for Po andU than grains of soybean. Deviations from the natural U isotopic ratio were recorded at all investigated areas, indicating possible industrial and mining sources of U for the vegetables. A safety assessment of transport routes and accumulation of radionuclides in soils with a potential for cultivation is important, mainly in tropical areas contaminated with solid waste and effluents from mines and industry.

show abstract

Section: Uptake Of Radionuclides By Pine Tree and Eucalyptus Species supporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Uptake Of Radionuclides By Pine Tree and Eucalyptus Species supporting

confidence: 80%

Natural radionuclides in plants, soils and sediments affected by U-rich coal mining activities in Brazil

Galhardi

Garcı́a-Tenorio

Bonotto

et al. 2017

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The observed uptake of 226 Ra in UMT-contaminated soil indicates that potential risk of internal radiation exposure to nearby living organisms should be considered in areas contaminated with UMT. Our particular study confirmed high 226 Ra transfer from soil to Chinese cabbage, as being reported for other plants growing near or on a uranium mill tailings wastes [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Section: Soil-to-plant Transfer Of 226 Rasupporting

confidence: 86%

“…On the other hand, the foliar uptake of terrestrial plants can become important in areas where single or chronic releases of radionuclides are likely to happen which result in much higher plant surface contamination than the uptake by roots from the contaminated soil [11]. Soil-to-plant transfer of 238 U and 226 Ra was reported for different plant species grown in soil contaminated with UMT [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transfer of uranium and radium to Chinese cabbage from soil containing elevated levels of natural radionuclides

Smodiš

Černe

Jačimović

et al. 2015

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The transfer of 238 U and 226 Ra to Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. subsp. pekinensis (Lour.) Hanelt) was investigated from soils contaminated with uranium-mill tailings (UMT) by means of a pot experiment in laboratory-based conditions applying different levels of soil contamination under various growing conditions. Activity concentrations for 226 Ra in Chinese cabbage varied from 56-276, 156-502 and 277-877 Bq kg -1 dry mass for 20, 40 and 60 % of UMT content in the soil, respectively, and for 238 U from 1.0-2.3 and 2.3-4.7 Bq kg -1 dry mass for 40 and 60 % of UMT content in the soil, respectively. The results showed increased accumulation of 226 Ra and low accumulation of 238 U in cabbage leaves in more contaminated soil.

show abstract

“…The values of an accumulation factor were in the range from 0.31 to 0.85 for 40 K, from 0.03 to 0.32 for 137 Cs, and from 0.78 to 6.33 for 90 Sr. The main pathway of long-lived radionuclides 40 K, 137 Cs, and 90 Sr accumulation in crops is through resuspension from soil (Štrok et al 2011;Paasikallio et al 1994). The results presented in Table 7 clearly indicate that the highest values of an accumulation factor are for radionuclide 90 Sr. Of all fission products, 90 Sr is the most accessible to plants via uptake from the soil (Abu-Khadra et al 2008;Gajić 2006).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Distribution of natural and artificial radionuclides in chernozem soil/crop system from stationary experiments

Sarap

Rajačić

Đalović

et al. 2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present paper focuses on the determination of radiological characteristics of cultivated chernozem soil and crops from long-term field experiments, taking into account the importance of distribution and transfer of radionuclides in the soil-plant system, especially in agricultural cropland. The investigation was performed on the experimental fields where maize, winter wheat, and rapeseed were cultivated. Analysis of radioactivity included determination of the gross alpha and beta activity as a screening method, as well as the activities of the following radionuclides: natural ((210)Pb, (235)U, (238)U, (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K, (7)Be) and artificial ((90)Sr and (137)Cs). The activities of natural and artificial ((137)Cs) radionuclides were determined by gamma spectrometry, while the artificial radionuclide (90)Sr was determined by a radiochemical analytical method. Based on the obtained results for the specific activity of (40)K, (137)Cs, and (90)Sr, accumulation factors for these radionuclides were calculated in order to estimate transfer of radionuclides from soil to crops. The results of performed analyses showed that there is no increase of radioactivity that could endanger the food production through the grown crops.

show abstract

Natural radionuclides in trees grown on a uranium mill tailings waste pile

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

Natural radionuclides in plants, soils and sediments affected by U-rich coal mining activities in Brazil

Natural radionuclides in plants, soils and sediments affected by U-rich coal mining activities in Brazil

Transfer of uranium and radium to Chinese cabbage from soil containing elevated levels of natural radionuclides

Distribution of natural and artificial radionuclides in chernozem soil/crop system from stationary experiments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About