title: Natural radionuclides in trees grown on a uranium mill tailings waste pile.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to investigate natural radionuclide uptake and allocation by trees.
  
  
  METHODS
  Samples from six Scots pines (P. sylvestris), six Norway spruces (Picea abies) and one sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) tree, growing on the Boršt uranium mill tailings waste pile in Slovenia were collected. (238)U, (230)Th, (226)Ra and (210)Pb activity concentrations in wood, shoots and 1-year-old needles or leaves were determined. Particular radionuclides were separated from the samples by appropriate radiochemical procedures and their activity concentrations measured with an alpha spectrometry system. In addition, concentration ratios for different plant parts were calculated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results showed that for all radionuclides, the highest activity concentrations were found in foliage, followed by shoots and wood. The activity concentrations in trees were from 0.01 to 5.4 Bq kg(-1) for (238)U, 0.03-11.3 Bq kg(-1) for (230)Th, 2.7-2,728 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra and 5.1-321 Bq kg(-1) for (210)Pb. All activity concentrations were calculated on dry weight basis. The calculated concentration ratios were from 1.05E-5 to 5.39E-3 for (238)U, 7.65E-6-2.88E-3 for (230)Th, 3.10E-4-3.16E-1 for (226)Ra and 6.70E-4-4.22E-2 for (210)Pb.
authors: Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors: Marko
authors: M
authors: Strok
authors: Borut
authors: B
authors: Smodiš
authors: Klemen
authors: K
authors: Eler
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007220:Industrial Waste; D007854:Lead / Q000737:chemistry; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D018520:Plant Shoots; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011883:Radium / Q000737:chemistry; D013793:Thallium / Q000737:chemistry; D014197:Trees; D014501:Uranium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D018505:Waste Management; D014934:Wood / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D007854:Lead; D014501:Uranium; D013793:Thallium; D011883:Radium