Soil-to-plant transfer factor of natural radionuclides and associated health risk in some vegetable species in arid area

The present study aims to investigate soil-to-plant transfer of natural radionuclides in some vegetables planted in arid region, and to evaluate the radiological hazards due to their intake. ⁴⁰K was found to be the most bio-accessible radionuclides for the examined vegetables with soil-to-plant transfer factor (TF) of 1.57-5.56, followed by ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th with TF factors ranging from 0.02 to 0.23. The radiological risk models revealed that the tested vegetables pose a negligible radiological hazard. The obtained results are very useful for understanding the behavior and transfer of radionuclides in the environment to ensure the safe and sustainable planning and operation of nuclear facilities. (author)