Radium-226 in vegetation and substrates at inactive uranium mill sites

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5593725· OSTI ID:5593725

Marple, M L

Results of a study of the content of radium-226 in plants growing on inactive uranium mill tailings sites in the Four Corners Region of the southwestern United States and in plants grown under greenhouse conditions with minimal surficial contamination are reported. Field plant samples and associated substrates were analyzed from two carbonate tailings sites in the Grants Mineral Belt of New Mexico. Radium activities in air-cleaned samples ranged from 5 to 368 pCi/g (dry weight) depending on species and location: activities in plants growing on local soils averaged 1.0 pCi/g. The talings and local soils contain 140 to 1400 pCi/g and 2.1 pCi/g, respectively. An evaluation of cleaning methods on selected samples showed that from 17 to 79% of the radium activity measured in air-cleaned samples was due to surficial contamination, which varied with species and location. A survey of 18 inactive uranium mill sites in the Four Corners Region was performed. Radium activity in plant tissues from nine species ranged from 2 to 210 pCi/g on bare tailings and from 0.3 to 30 pCi/g on covered tailings The radium content in most of the soil overburdens on the covered tailings piles was 10 to 17 pCi/g. An experiment was performed to measure radium-226 uptake by two species grown on tailings covered with a shallow (5 cm) soil layer. A grass, Sporobolus airoides (alkali sacaton) and a shrub, Atriplex canescens (four-wing saltbush), were studied. The tailings were a mixture of sands and slimes from a carbonate pile. The tailings treatments were plants grown in a soil cover over tailings; the controls were plants grown only in soil. Three soil types, dune sand, clay loam, and loam, were used. The radium activity of the plant tissue from the tailings treatment compared to that of the appropriate control was 1 to 19 times greater for the grass and 4 to 27 times greater for the shrub.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5593725
• Report Number(s): LA-8183-T
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510301* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Soil-- (-1987)
510302 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Terrestrial Ecosystems & Food Chains-- (-1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DISPERSIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEED MATERIALS PLANTS
GRASS
HEAVY NUCLEI
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ISOTOPES
MASS TRANSFER
MILL TAILINGS
MINES
MIXTURES
NEW MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
PLANT TISSUES
PLANTS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RADIUM 226
RADIUM ISOTOPES
SAND
SHRUBS
SOILS
SOLID WASTES
SOUTHWEST REGION
TAILINGS
UPTAKE
URANIUM MINES
USA
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES