Behavior of technetium-99 in soils and plants. Final report, April 1, 1974--December 31, 1978

Technical Report · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6098786· OSTI ID:6098786

Gast, R. G.; Landa, E. R.; Thorvig, L. J.; Grigal, D. F.; Balogh, J. C.

Studies described in this report were aimed at establishing the magnitude and mechanisms of /sup 99/Tc sorption by soils and uptake by plants. Results show that /sup 99/Tc was sorbed from solution over a period to two to five weeks by 8 of 11 soils studies. The slow rate of sorption, the lack of sorption by low organic matter soils, the elimination of sorption following sterilization and increased sorption following addition of dextrose all point to a microbial role in the sorption process. However, it has not been established whether this is a direct or indirect role nor is it possible to clearly predict the conditions under which sorption will occur. Results of plant uptake studies show that /sup 99/Tc can be taken up and translocated into the photosynthetic tissue of higher plants with concentrations in seeds being much less than in vegetative tissue. Technetium-99 was also shown to be toxic to plants at low concentrations and evidence suggests that this is a chemically rather than radiologically induced toxicity. However, this remains to be completely resolved as well as whether there is a threshold level of /sup 99/Tc required before toxicity occurs. Studies of short-term, dynamic, aerobic systems indicated that /sup 99/Tc moves through the soil as a relatively large anion exhibiting characteristic miscible displacement with some asymmetric tailing. /sup 99/Tc exhibits greater retention that C1/sup -/, which may be attributed statistically to weak complexion by organic matter. It is unlikely that this retention phenomenon is related to the static sorption activity reported in the first part of this study.

• Research Organization: Minnesota Univ., St. Paul (USA). Dept. of Soil Science
• OSTI ID: 6098786
• Report Number(s): COO-2447-6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510300* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADDITIVES
ADSORPTION
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE 36
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
CHLORINE ISOTOPES
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
DATA FORMS
DIAGRAMS
DOSE RATES
DOSES
ECOSYSTEMS
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
GRAPHS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
INFORMATION
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PLANT TISSUES
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SEEDS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
SORPTION
SORPTIVE PROPERTIES
STERILIZATION
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SYNTHESIS
TABLES
TECHNETIUM 99
TECHNETIUM ISOTOPES
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
TOXICITY
UPTAKE
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES