Transfer of Natural Radionuclides from Soil to Abu Dhabi Date Palms

Abstract

Nuclear power and modern agriculture are two crucial sectors for sustainable development in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As these industries mature rapidly in the country, their long-term inter-compatibility needs monitoring with local data on transfer of radionuclides from arid sandy soils to farm products. Date palms, main crop from the Arabian Peninsula, remain largely unstudied for radioecological impact assessments. This paper reports the first measurement of soil to UAE date palms concentration ratios for natural radionuclides. Representative samples of soils, fruits, and leaves from seven palms in Abu Dhabi have been studied using gamma-spectrometry. Average activity concentrations in the soils are around 278.9 Bq kg−1 for 40K, 15.5 Bq kg−1 for 238U, and 8.3 Bq kg−1 for 232Th. The latter two decay chains, in the plant samples, are close to detection limits, signifying their lower levels in the UAE flora and the need for upgrading analytical techniques. The geometric means of soil to fruit concentration ratios are 1.12 for 40K, but negligibly low for the others—approximately 0.08 for 238U and 0.17 for 232Th chains. The respective ratios for the leaves are approximately 0.13, 0.36, and 0.77. Personal radiation doses due to soils and dates are very low, posing no danger to the public.

Systematic Radioecological Experiments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Nuclear Safety and Emergency-Preparedness

“…Detailed analyses of date fruits and leaves were reported in ref. [13]. For date fruits, indicative plant-soil CRs have been measured as 0.08 for 238 U, 0.17 for 232 Th, and 1.12 for 40 K. Respective CRs for palm leaves, another commodity, are 0.13, 0.36, and 0.77.…”

“…In this estimation, GM of date fruits and leaves are used from ref. [13], while arithmetic average are taken for vegetables' CRs. For Ghaf leaves, the soil was not sampled.…”

“…Dates are unique in the sense that they are economically and culturally important to the region, they can grow in harsh desert environments, and the data on their soil to plant transfer of radionuclides is largely unavailable in the literature. For this study, seven sampling spots were selected in the Sas al Nakhl area of Abu Dhabi near to ENTC campuses [13]. For each tree studied, large (~5-10 kg) portions of fruits, pedicels and leaves were sampled.…”

“…For the soil data sources in this review, we get averages of radionuclide concentrations (in Bq kg -1 ) as 13.6 to 15.5 for 238 U decay chain, 3.3 to 8.3 for 232 Th chain, and 98.2 to 349.7 for 40 K. Some instances of global fallout radionuclide from nuclear weapons' testing, most commonly 137 Cs, are also recorded. [13]. Radiological studies on date fruits and trees, especially their tendencies to transfer radionuclides from soil and water to food, are extremely rare in global literature.…”

Phytoaccumulation of Heavy Metals in South Kazakhstan Soils (Almaty and Turkestan Regions): An Evaluation of Plant-Based Remediation Potential

“…Recently, the use of plants, specifically phytoextractors, for ecosystem remediation has become more prevalent. Researchers consider using plants to detoxify soils from heavy metals and radionuclides as promising [17,18]. Phytoremediation methods are effective in detoxifying large soil areas, gradually removing contaminants while maintaining the soil's structure and properties.…”