Investigation of the transfer of strontium-90, cesium-137; cobalt-60, and manganese-54 from soil to plant, and of the soil parameters most affecting the transfer

Transfer in a large number of plants cultivated in agriculture and partly in gardening was studied in lysimeter experiments under field conditions. Two soil types were used in the experiments: para brown earth and podzol. The experiments were accompanied by pot experiments under standardised conditions in greenhouses and by small-scale pot experiments in air-conditioned chambers, with the aim of testing the transferability of the results of such experiments to real field situations. In the lysimeter experiments, a distinction was made between soil situation after 50 years of continuous cultivation - working of radionuclides into the 0-20 cm topsoil layer - and accidental situations - regular working into the 0-1 cm topsoil layer. In a special experiment the deposition of a high single emission was simulated by direct application to the soil surface under grassland vegetation, or by overhead irrigation on pasture grass and summer barley after ear emergence. Moreover, in a pot experiment repeated eight times, the variation of the transfer factors in their dependence on soil properties was studied with the help of 10 soil types from the surroundings of the nuclear power stations of Stade and Biblis. (orig./HP)