Soil-to-Plant Transfer of Radionuclides

Abstract

Transport of radionuclides from soil to plant is detennined by both soil and plant factors, as well as by specific environmental circumstances. At polluted sites, the nuclides enter an array of variously bound forms of the same element that are in dynamic equilibria. Processes in the rhizosphere are different from those in the bulk soil, due to the presence of plant roots and to the activity of soil microbes. Plant uptake of nuclides is influenced by structural and functional properties varying among plant species and changing during the lifetime of plants. Discussion of the above factors-with special attention given to the behaviour of radiocaesium and to post-Chemobyl studies-will show some points where soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides might be influenced.