Abstract/Journal Article

FZJ-2014-05883

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Soil-plant transfer of Cs-137 and Sr-90 in digestate amended agriculturalsoils- a lysimeter scale experiment

Mehmood, K. (Corresponding Author)FZJ* ; Berns, A. E.FZJ* ; Pütz, T.FZJ* ; Burauel, P.FZJ* ; Vereecken, H.FZJ* ; Zoriy, M.FZJ* ; Flucht, R. ; Opitz, T.FZJ* ; Hofmann, D.FZJ*

2014
Soc. Katlenburg-Lindau

Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/20734

Abstract: Radiocesium and radiostrontium are among the most problematic soil contaminants following nuclear fallout dueto their long half-lives and high fission yields. Their chemical resemblance to potassium, ammonium and calciumfacilitates their plant uptake and thus enhances their chance to reach humans through the food-chain dramatically.The plant uptake of both radionuclides is affected by the type of soil, the amount of organic matter and theconcentration of competitive ions.In the present lysimeter scale experiment, soil-plant transfer of Cs-137 and Sr-90 was investigated in anagricultural silty soil amended with digestate, a residue from a biogas plant. The liquid fraction of the digestate,liquor, was used to have higher nutrient competition. Digestate application was done in accordance with thefield practice with an application rate of 34 Mg/ha and mixing it in top 5 cm soil, yielding a final concentrationof 38 g digestate/Kg soil. The top 5 cm soil of the non-amended reference soil was also submitted to the samemixing procedure to account for the physical disturbance of the top soil layer. Six months after the amendmentof the soil, the soil contamination was done with water-soluble chloride salts of both radionuclides, resulting in acontamination density of 66 MBq/m2 for Cs-137 and 18 MBq/m2 for Sr-90 in separate experiments.Our results show that digestate application led to a detectable difference in soil-plant transfer of the investigatedradionuclides, effect was more pronounced for Cs-137. A clear difference was observed in plant uptake ofdifferent plants. Pest plants displayed higher uptake of both radionuclides compared to wheat. Furthermore, loweractivity values were recorded in ears compared to stems for both radionuclides.

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Agrosphäre (IBG-3)

Research Program(s):

1. 245 - Chemicals in the Environment (POF2-245) (POF2-245)
2. 255 - Terrestrial Systems: From Observation to Prediction (POF3-255) (POF3-255)

Appears in the scientific report 2014

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