title: Rapid and sensitive determination of tellurium in soil and plant samples by sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
abstract: In this work, we report a rapid and highly sensitive analytical method for the determination of tellurium in soil and plant samples using sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS). Soil and plant samples were digested using Aqua regia. After appropriate dilution, Te in soil and plant samples was directly analyzed without any separation and preconcentration. This simple sample preparation approach avoided to a maximum extent any contamination and loss of Te prior to the analysis. The developed analytical method was validated by the analysis of soil/sediment and plant reference materials. Satisfactory detection limits of 0.17 ng g(-1) for soil and 0.02 ng g(-1) for plant samples were achieved, which meant that the developed method was applicable to studying the soil-to-plant transfer factor of Te. Our work represents for the first time that data on the soil-to-plant transfer factor of Te were obtained for Japanese samples which can be used for the estimation of internal radiation dose of radioactive tellurium due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.
authors.affiliation: Office of Biospheric Assessment for Waste Disposal, Research Center for Radiation Protection, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Anagawa 4-9-1, Inage, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Guosheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tagami
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uchida
mesh_terms: D006851:Hydrochloric Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D057230:Limit of Detection; D017942:Nitric Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013691:Tellurium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D017942:Nitric Acid; D013691:Tellurium; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid; C022102:aqua regia
keywords: Fukushima accident; Plant; SF-ICP-MS; Soil; Tellurium; Transfer factor