The influence of soil type and climate on the uptake of radionuclides into wheat

The study investigated the uptake by winter wheat of radionuclides deposited onto the soil surface following a hypothetical accidental release to atmosphere from a nuclear power station. A series of lysimeters were filled with four soil types characteristic of wheat growing areas of Europe. Four radionuclides (137Cs, 144Ce, 106Ru, 125Sb) were watered onto the soil surface and the subsequent contamination of winter wheat crops was monitored over two seasons. Subsidiary experiments considered: effects of ploughing and pot size on root uptake; movement of radionuclides in soil profiles; soil contamination of wheat plants and of grain leaving the field; the influence of climate on root uptake; and, the availability of radionuclides. Compared with the literature, this study found a smaller range of transfer factors appropriate to agricultural soils that predominate in the wheat growing areas of the EEC. The use of pots or tubes to investigate soil-to-plant transfer was justified. The study showed that resuspension of radionuclides bound to soil particles must be considered when assessing soil-to-plant transfer. It was demonstrated that the contribution of soil-bound activity to the radionuclide content of combine harvested grain is underestimated in existing dose assessment methodologies by at least an order of magnitude on average and by over two orders of magnitude in extreme cases. Climatic conditions simulated in a growth chamber had little impact on radionuclide transfer. The relative availability of radionuclides for extraction by ammonium acetate did not reflect percentage transfer to grain. Ploughing reduced uptake by winter wheat, resulted in different patterns of transfer between cultivation treatments and influenced the distribution of activity between grain and straw. Results of this work were used in the development of a multi-compartmental time-dependent model called WHEAT which predicts radionuclide transfer from soil to winter wheat. (author)