Peculiarities of the technogenical radionuclides transfer from soils into plants in the radioactive contaminated areas

Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Urals Division, 8 Marta, 202, 620144 Ekaterinburg, Russia

Corresponding author: molchanova_i_v@mail.ru

Abstract

The peculiarities of ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, ^239,240Pu accumulation by some species of herbaceous plants in radioactive contaminated areas of nuclear enterprises in Russia have been investigated. Gas and aerosol discharge from Beloyarskaya NPP (which operates for more than 30 years) did not make considerable contamination of soil-vegetational cover in the 30-km zone. In close proximity to the epicenter of nuclear accident of 1957 in the Urals the concentration of the main contaminant (⁹⁰Sr) in the plants reached maximal value (tens and hundred of thousands of Bq kg_dw^-1 depending on species belonging of plant). The concentration of ⁹⁰Sr in aboveground phytomass of plants growing within floodplain of the Techa river ecosystems is thousands of Bq kg_dw^-1; at the same time, the ¹³⁷Cs concentration is units of Bq kg_dw^-1. The absence of direct dependence between the radionuclides content in the soils and their concentration in aboveground phytomass is noticeable. The values of the radionuclides transfer coefficients in the plants were estimated as well as the content in the soils of their water-soluble and firmly fixed physic-chemical forms. The radionuclides have been ranked into a row according to their mobility in observed soils and biogeocenotical soil-plant link.