title: Transfer factors of radioiodine from volcanic-ash soil (Andosol) to crops.
abstract: In order to obtain soil-to-plant transfer factors (TFs) of radioiodine from volcanic-ash soil to agricultural crops, we carried out radiotracer experiments. The mean values of TFs (on a wet weight basis) of radioiodine from Andosol to edible parts of crops were as follows: water dropwort, 0.24; lettuce, 0.00098; onion, 0.0011; radish, 0.0044; turnip, 0.0013 and eggplant, 0.00010. The mean value of the TFs of radioiodine for edible parts of wheat (on a dry weight basis) was 0.00015. We also studied the distributions of iodine in crops. There was a tendency for the TFs of leaves to be higher than those of tubers, fruits and grains. A very high TF was found for water dropwort, because this plant was cultivated under a waterlogged condition, in which iodine desorbed from soil into soil solution with a drop in the Eh value. The data obtained in this study should be helpful to assess the long-lived 129I (half life: 1.57 x 10(7) yr) pathway related to the fuel cycle.
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Toxicological Sciences Research Group, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555, Japan. t_bannai@nirs.go.jp
authors.forename: Tadaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ban-Nai
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D005507:Food Contamination, Radioactive; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D007564:Japan; D012987:Soil; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D018707:Volcanic Eruptions
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D012987:Soil; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive