Published October 19, 1995 | Version v1
Journal article

Study of the transfer of radionuclides in trees at a forest site

  • 1. Laboratoire de Radiochimie, Faculte des Sciences, Universite de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Nice (France)

Description

The transfer of radionuclides such as 137Cs and 90Sr from soil to trees (conifers) was studied in a forest area, the Boreon massif, 30 km north of Nice in South Eastern France. This area has been highly contaminated after the Chernobyl accident. Besides the γ-emitting fission products, the α-emitters 238Pu and 239+240Pu and the pure β-emitter 90Sr were measured in different parts of the studied trees (roots, branches, twigs, etc.). As has already been reported by other authors, the radionuclide activities in the tree rings are not correlated with the fallout deposition. They were found varying according to the sap flux in the tree and higher in sapwood than in heartwood. For cesium the root absorption was found to be lower than the atmospheric deposition. Soil-to-plant concentration factors were calculated for 137Cs, 90Sr and 239+240Pu

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Science of the Total Environment
Journal Volume
173
Journal Issue
1-6
Journal Page Range
p. 369-373.
ISSN
0048-9697
CODEN
STENDL