¹³⁴Cs and ⁸⁵Sr in blackberry plants

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, 29100 Piacenza, Italy

Abstract

The transfer was investigated of ¹³⁴Cs and ⁸⁵Sr to a bush plant, blackberry, at short term after an acute release. Results presented of the first experimental year have been produced for validation of SPADE suite of codes. The objective was to improve the assessment of risk from ingestion of fruit contaminated with radionuclides. Blackberry plants were grown in pots filled with a mixture of peat, pumice and compost, and placed under a ventilated tunnel in field. An acute wet deposition was simulated of ¹³⁴Cs and ⁸⁵Sr in soluble form, onto the above-ground part of the plant or onto the soil surface, at three phenological stages : predormancy, anthesis, and ripening. Leaf to fruit translocation coefficients are one order of magnitude higher for ¹³⁴Cs than for ⁸⁵Sr. Direct deposition affects fruit activity, accounting for 55 % of ¹³⁴Cs and 75 % of ⁸⁵Sr detectable at harvest. Soil to fruit transfer coefficients are approximately one order of magnitude higher for ⁸⁵Sr than for ¹³⁴Cs.