Accumulation of 137Cs and 90Sr by lettuce culture (Lactuca sativa L.) from radioactively contaminated soils of the former Semipalatinsk test site


Накопление 137Cs и 90Sr культурой салата (Lactuca sativa L.) на почвах радиоактивно-загрязнённых участков бывшего Семипалатинского испытательного полигона
Polivkina Ye.N. Ponomaryova T.S. Mendubaev A.T. Kenzhebaev R.A. Nemytova L.A. Ivanova A.R. Kenzhina L.B. Panitskiy A.V.
2022National Medical Research Radiological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation

Radiation and Risk
2022#31Issue 494 - 106 pp.

The paper presents the study of 137Cs and 90Sr transfer from soils of the former technical sites of the Semipalatinsk test site to the salad culture (Lactuca sativa L.) as an example of the leaf vegetable. The factors affecting the transfer of the radionuclides from soils with a different character of radioactive contamination to the salad culture were identified under the model vegetation experiment conditions. The variation ranges of 137Cs and 90Sr transfer factors values were 2 and 1 orders of magnitude respectively. With the use of the private correlation method, it was found that the content of biologically available forms of 137Cs and 90Sr in the soils of the former Semipalatinsk test site, and, consequently, accumulation of these radionuclides by the salad, depended on their non-isotopic analogs K and Ca concentration in the soil, respectively (rxy–z=-0.81; n=4, p<0.2 – for 137Cs and gross K; rxy-z=-0.64; n=4, p<0.2 – for 90Sr). There was a moderate positive relationship between the value of 137Cs transfer factor and physical clay content (fraction >0.01%) in the soil (ρ=0.47; n=12, p<0.05), the relationship between value of 90Sr transfer factor and the physical clay content was weak negative (ρ=-0.3; n=11, p<0.05). The migration of 137Cs and 90Sr to the salad culture from the radioactively contaminated soils of the Semipalatinsk test site mainly depended on biologically available forms content of radionuclides and their non-isotopic analogs K and Ca speciation, respectively. The impact of physical clay on the accumulation of 137Cs and 90Sr by the salad culture was less pronounced, it could be due to the specific conditions for radioactive contamination of the soil surface in the territory of the former technical sites of the Semipalatinsk test site.

137Cs , 90Sr , bioavailability , former test sites , forms of radionuclides location , migration , radioactive contamination , salad (Lactuca sativa L.) , Semipalatinsk test site , transfer factor

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Branch Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology, the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kurchatov, Kazakhstan
ECOEXPERT LLP, Karaganda, Kazakhstan
IRSE NNC RK, Kazakhstan

Branch Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology
ECOEXPERT LLP
IRSE NNC RK

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