IAEA-TECDOC-1497 Classification of soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants Proceedings of a final research coordination meeting organized by the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and held in Chania, Crete, 22–26 September 2003 June 2006 IAEA-TECDOC-1497 Classification of soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants Report of the final research coordination meeting organized by the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture held in Chania, Crete, 22–26 September 2003 June 2006 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Food and Environmental Protection Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria CLASSIFICATION OF SOIL SYSTEMS ON THE BASIS OF TRANSFER FACTORS OF RADIONUCLIDES FROM SOIL TO REFERENCE PLANTS IAEA, VIENNA, 2006 IAEA-TECDOC-1497 ISBN 92–0–105906–X ISSN 1011–4289 © IAEA, 2006 Printed by the IAEA in Austria June 2006 FOREWORD The IAEA Basic Safety Standards for Radiation Protection include the general requirement to keep all doses as low as reasonably achievable, taking account of economic and social considerations, within the overall constraint of individual dose limits. National and Regional authorities have to set release limits for radioactive effluent and also to establish contingency plans to deal with an uncontrolled release following an accident or terrorist activity. It is normal practice to assess radiation doses to man by means of radiological assessment models. In this context the IAEA published (1994), in cooperation with the International Union of Radioecologists (IUR), a Handbook of Parameter Values for the Prediction of Radionuclide Transfer in Temperate Environments to facilitate such calculations. The obvious limitation of the Handbook is that the data on soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides are strictly relevant only to temperate climates. Therefore, the IAEA, together with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the IUR, conducted a coordinated research project (CRP), to obtain similar data in tropical and sub-tropical regions. A conclusion of this research was that some combinations of ecosystems and radionuclides do not behave as might be expected. A consultants meeting held in May 1998 produced a proposal for a CRP to address the issue of identifying such situations in temperate as well as tropical and sub-tropical conditions. The IAEA acknowledges the contributions of all the participants to this CRP and in particular the mentoring of M. Frissel (Netherlands) and work undertaken by R.J. Hance (UK) in reviewing the individual contributions presented at the final research coordination meeting held in Chania, Crete from 22–26 September, 2003. The IAEA officers responsible for this publication were M.A. Matin, J. Brodesser and I.G. Ferris of the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. EDITORIAL NOTE The papers in these proceedings are reproduced as submitted by the authors and have not undergone rigorous editorial review by the IAEA. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the IAEA, the governments of the nominating Member States or the nominating organizations. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. CONTENTS SUMMARY OF THE COORDINATED RESEARCH PROJECT........................................................ 1 Transfer of radioactive caesium, strontium and zinc from soil to sorghum and mung beans under field conditions in tropical Northern Australia ...................................................................... 21 J. Twining, P. Shotton, K. Tagami, T. Payne, T. Itakura, R. Russell, K. Wilde, G. McOrist, H. Wong Plant uptake processes related with the geochemical behaviour of radionuclides in some Brazilian soil ................................................................................................ 39 M.A. Wasserman, E.R.R. Rochedo, A.C. Ferreira, C.C. Conti, A.G. Viana, F. Bartoly, J.C. Wasserman, D.V. Perez Influence of soil acidity on the transfer of Caesium-137 and other radionuclides from soil to reference plants ............................................................................. 51 R. Djingova Soil to crops transfer of radiocaesium and -strontium in different allophanic soils from the Lake Region, Chile .................................................................................. 59 P. Schuller, K. Bunzl, G. Voigt, A. Krarup, A. Castillo A field study of soil-to-plant transfer of strontium-90 and caesium-137 based on a Calcaric Cambisol in sub-tropical southwest China ................................. 73 J. Li, H. Peng, B. Ma, G. Li, R. Guo, F. Ma Time dependent caesium-134 transfer factors for crops grown on different Greek soil types ............................................................................................................ 81 V. Skarlou–Alexiou, I. Massas, C. Haidouti, Y. Papatheohari The classification of Indian soils on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants ...................................................................................... 89 P. Sachdev, M.S. Sachdev, K.M. Manjaiah Variation of transfer factors of radionuclides for food crops in Japan................................................ 101 S. Uchida, K. Tagami, M. Komamura The classification of Russian soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants .................................................................... 113 N. Sanzharova, S. Spiridonov, V. Kuznetzov, N. Isamov, S. Fesenko, N. Belova Transfer factor of caesium-137 in arid and semi-arid regions............................................................. 139 M. Al-Oudat F. Al-Asfary Transfer of caesium-137, strontium-90 and polonium-210 from soil to maize and black cabbage crops ........................................................................................... 145 S. Topcuoğlu, N. Güngör, A. Köse, C. Kirbaşoğlu, I. Akkurt The classification of Ukrainian soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soils to reference plants................................................................... 153 B.S. Prister, L.V. Perepelyatnikova, T.N. Ivanova, V.D.Vynogradskaya, L.V. Kalinenko, N.R. Grytsjuk, V.A. Rudenko, G.P. Perepelyatnikov, V.A. Pojarkov Uptake of caesium-137 by leafy vegetables and grains from calcareous soils.................................... 179 W.L. Robison, T.F. Hamilton, C.L. Conrado, and S. Kehl The classification of soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants .................................................................................... 191 H.Q. Nguyen APPENDIX I: FAO/IAEA/IUR PROTOCOL FOR EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE UPTAKE OF RADIONUCLIDES FROM SOILS BY PLANTS ............................................................................................ 197 APPENDIX II: TRANSFER FACTOR (TF) RESULTS .............................................................. 201 APPENDIX III: RESULTS OF THE PROFICIENCY TEST FOR THE IAEA CRP: CLASSIFICATION OF SOIL SYSTEMS BASED ON TRANSFER FACTORS OF RADIONUCLIDES FROM SOIL TO REFERENCE PLANTS ......................... 211 Z. Radecki ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................................................. 247 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................................. 249 SUMMARY OF THE COORDINATED RESEARCH PROJECT 1. INTRODUCTION The IAEA, together with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Union of Radiologists (IUR), conducted a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Transfer of Radionuclides from Air, Soil and Freshwater to the Foodchain of Man in Tropical and Subtropical Environments. This produced a set of values for key transfer parameters of radionuclides between the various components of tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems that can be used in dose assessment models. It concentrated on what are considered as the key parameters in assessment models—radionuclide transfer from soil to plant and from freshwater to fish. A data bank was developed of transfer factors for radionuclides, principally 137Cs and 90Sr, from soil to cereals, fodder crops including grass, legumes, root crops, green vegetables, and plantation crops. Account was taken of soil properties, nature of the contamination (artificial, weapons testing fallout, Chernobyl fallout and so on) and the type of experiment (field, pot or lysimeter) that generated the values. For soil-to-plant transfer the following conclusions were drawn: (i) there are no systematic differences between soil-to-plant transfer factors in temperate,