title: Tritium levels in Chinese cabbage and radish plants acutely exposed to HTO vapor at different growth stages.
abstract: To simulate an acute exposure of Chinese cabbage and radish plants to airborne HTO, the potted plants were exposed to HTO vapor under semi-outdoor conditions for 1h at different times from the early to late growth stages. The plants were grown outdoors and the plant tritium was measured at the end of an exposure (h(0)) and at harvest. The leaf tissue free water tritium (TFWT) concentrations at h(0) were considerably lower than estimated equilibrium concentrations. In the leaves of Chinese cabbage, the exposure at the earlier growth stage generally ended with a higher TFWT concentration. Such a tendency was not apparent either in the leaves or roots of radish. On the other hand, the earlier stage exposure gave rise to lower TFWT concentrations at the harvest of both crops. For the OBT (organically bound tritium), however, the same occurred only in the Chinese cabbage leaves. During the period between the exposure and harvest, the TFWT concentrations reduced by factors of up to 1.1 x 10(6) for the Chinese cabbage leaves and 1.3 x 10(4) for the radish roots. Based on the activity ratios of OBT to TFWT at harvest, it is estimated that OBT mostly contributes much more to the ingestion dose than TFWT does.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Environment Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-600, Republic of Korea. yhchoi@kaeri.re.kr
authors.forename: Yong Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kwang Muk
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Won Yun
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hyo Guk
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Geun Sik
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Dong Kwon
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Keum
authors.forename: Hansoo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sang Bog
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chang Woo
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001937:Brassica / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D031224:Raphanus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D012588:Scintillation Counting; D014316:Tritium / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D014316:Tritium