Invariant scaling relationships and their possible application in predicting radionuclide uptake in plants

K. A. Higley¹ and D. P. Bytwerk¹

¹ Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiation Health Physics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

Abstract

Scaling factors, used to predict radionuclide uptake as a function of mass, have tremendous potential to provide a more transparent approach to risk assessment. Although the historical literature might seem to offer a wealth of data for the purposes of testing these scaling relationships, a more defensible alternative may be to conduct new site-specific data collection efforts. Trace element analysis was conducted on 16 plant species from a single location in Oregon. Results for ten elements and six species exhibit mass dependence on trace-element uptake. Transfer factors calculated for several elements spanned only an order of magnitude across all plant species. Conversely, radionuclide data taken from the open literature was inconclusive in the analysis for mass effects.