Bioaccumulation of 226Ra by plants growing in fresh water ecosystem around the uranium industry at Jaduguda, India.
A field study has been conducted to evaluate the (226)Ra bioaccumulation among aquatic plants growing in the stream/river adjoining the uranium mining and ore-processing complex at Jaduguda, India. Two types of plant group have been investigated namely free floating algal species submerged into water and plants rooted in stream & riverbed. The highest (226)Ra activity concentration (9850 Bq kg(-1)) was found in filamentous algae growing in the residual water of tailings pond. The concentration ratios of (226)Ra in filamentous algae (activity concentration of (226)Ra in plant Bq kg(-1) fresh weight/activity concentration of (226)Ra in water Bq l(-1)) widely varied i.e. from 1.1 x 10(3) to 8.6 x 10(4). Other aquatic plants were also showing wide variability in the (226)Ra activity concentration. The ln-transformed filamentous algae (226)Ra activity concentration was significantly correlated with that of ln-transformed water concentration (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). There was no correlation between the activity concentrations of (226)Ra in stream/riverbed rooted plants and the substrate. For this group, correlation between (226)Ra activity concentration and Mn, Fe, Cu concentration in plants were statistically significant.
Jha
V N
VN
Environmental Assessment Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400085, India. jhavn1971@gmail.com
Tripathi
R M
RM
Sethy
N K
NK
Sahoo
S K
SK
Shukla
A K
AK
Puranik
V D
VD
D017753:Ecosystem; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D007194:India; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism; D008906:Mining; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011883:Radium / Q000378:metabolism*; D014501:Uranium; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000378:metabolism*
D007220:Industrial Waste; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D014501:Uranium; D011883:Radium