Titel
Uptake of Radionuclides by Bryophytes in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
Autor*in
Felix Kegler
Institute for Physics, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Georg Steinhauser
Chemistry & TRIGA Center Atominstitut, TU Wien
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Abstract
The “Chernobyl nuclear disaster” released huge amounts of radionuclides, which are still detectable in plants and sediments today. Bryophytes (mosses) are primitive land plants lacking roots and protective cuticles and therefore readily accumulate multiple contaminants, including metals and radionuclides. This study quantifies 137Cs and 241Am in moss samples from the cooling pond of the power plant, the surrounding woodland and the city of Prypiat. Activity concentrations of up to 297 Bq/g (137Cs) and 0.43 Bq/g (241Am) were found. 137Cs contents were significantly higher at the cooling pond, where 241Am was not detectable. Distance to the damaged reactor, amount of original fallout, presence of vascular tissue in the stem or taxonomy were of little importance. Mosses seem to absorb radionuclides rather indiscriminately, if available. More than 30 years after the disaster, 137Cs was washed out from the very top layer of the soil, where it is no more accessible for rootless mosses but possibly for higher plants. On the other hand, 137Cs still remains solved and accessible in the cooling pond. However, 241Am remained adsorbed to the topsoil, thus accessible to terrestrial mosses, but precipitated in the sapropel of the cooling pond.
Stichwort
americiumcesiumstrontiumfalloutbryophytesmossesradioactivity
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1924402
Erschienen in
Titel
Toxics
Band
11
Ausgabe
3
ISSN
2305-6304
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Publication
MDPI AG
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
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