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- Title
Natural radionuclides in trees grown on a uranium mill tailings waste pile.
- Authors
Štrok, Marko; Smodiš, Borut; Eler, Klemen
- Abstract
Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate natural radionuclide uptake and allocation by trees. Materials and methods: Samples from six Scots pines ( P. sylvestris), six Norway spruces ( Picea abies) and one sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus) tree, growing on the Boršt uranium mill tailings waste pile in Slovenia were collected. U, Th, Ra and Pb activity concentrations in wood, shoots and 1-year-old needles or leaves were determined. Particular radionuclides were separated from the samples by appropriate radiochemical procedures and their activity concentrations measured with an alpha spectrometry system. In addition, concentration ratios for different plant parts were calculated. Results and conclusions: Results showed that for all radionuclides, the highest activity concentrations were found in foliage, followed by shoots and wood. The activity concentrations in trees were from 0.01 to 5.4 Bq kg for U, 0.03-11.3 Bq kg for Th, 2.7-2,728 Bq kg for Ra and 5.1-321 Bq kg for Pb. All activity concentrations were calculated on dry weight basis. The calculated concentration ratios were from 1.05E-5 to 5.39E-3 for U, 7.65E-6-2.88E-3 for Th, 3.10E-4-3.16E-1 for Ra and 6.70E-4-4.22E-2 for Pb.
- Subjects
SLOVENIA; RADIOISOTOPES; URANIUM mill tailings; TREE growth; SCOTS pine; NORWAY spruce; ACER pseudoplatanus; RADIOCHEMICAL analysis
- Publication
Environmental Science & Pollution Research, 2011, Vol 18, Issue 5, p819
- ISSN
0944-1344
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11356-011-0499-z