Deposition of various plutonium-compound aerosols onto plant foliage at very low wind velocities

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976 · ERDA Symp. Ser.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5023247

Craig, D K; Klepper, B L; Buschbom, R L

Deposition of polydispersed aerosols of plutonium oxides, hydrated (aged) oxide, nitrate and citrate onto plant foliage has been studied in a low-speed wind tunnel designed for quantitative experimental studies of the interaction of airborne plutonium compounds with plant surfaces. Using concentrations of 1 to 4 nCi /sup 238/Pu/cm/sup 3/ and a wind velocity of 1 cm/sec, mean deposition velocities onto both single leaves and canopies have been measured. For log normally-distributed aerosols having activity median aerodynamic diameters (AMAD) in the range 0.5 to 1.8 ..mu..m and geometric standard deviations (GSD) from 1.6 to 2.4, values of 3 x 10/sup -3/ to 2 x 10/sup -2/ cm/sec were obtained for single 10-day-old Phaseolus vulgaris L. seedling leaves. The corresponding values for 5 to 6 week-old canopies were 4 x 10/sup -3/ to 1 x 10/sup -2/ cm/sec. Aerosol size distributions were obtained, using an 8-stage impaction device calibrated in terms of the effective cutoff diameters (ECD) of unit density spheres. The above mean deposition velocities were compared with the expected value based upon the quantity of material in each impactor size range and the corresponding theoretical deposition velocity for each ECD. 9 references, 3 figures, 6 tables.

• Research Organization: Battelle, Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA
• OSTI ID: 5023247
• Journal Information: ERDA Symp. Ser.; (United States), Journal Name: ERDA Symp. Ser.; (United States) Vol. 38; ISSN ERDSD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500300* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
AEROSOLS
AIR POLLUTION
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CANOPIES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
DEPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LEAVES
LEGUMINOSAE
NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
PHASEOLUS
PLANTS
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
POLLUTION
RADIOISOTOPES
SEEDLINGS
SIZE
SOLS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
TUNNELS
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
VELOCITY
WIND
WIND TUNNELS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES