Pages: 57-64

Authors: Hariandra Muthu, Ramesh Kasi, Ramesh T. Subramaniam, and Shahid Bashir

Abstract

The activity concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides in vegetables and peat soil were investigated to determine the transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to vegetables obtained from farms in Klang Selangor. The results showed that the activity concentration ranges for
²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in the soil of the vegetable were 2.72-46.54 Bqkg^–1, 9.01-54.84 Bqkg^–1, and 19.22-477.76 Bqkg^–1, respectively. The activity concentration ranges for ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K in various vegetable samples were 0.41-3.41 Bqkg^–1, 0.02-3.56 Bqkg^–1, and 16.22-317.49 Bqkg^–1, respectively. The transfer factors from soil-to-plant for ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K were in the ranges of 0.01-0.67, 0.00-0.17, and 0.26-2.52, respectively. Radionuclide ⁴⁰K has the highest transfer factor value in most vegetables, especially in the fruit type vegetable, and ²³²Th was found to have the lowest transfer factor value in all vegetables. The acquired results were compared to the levels that are globally recognized as acceptable. The transfer factor value of ⁴⁰K was greater than 1 found in beans and fruit type vegetables, showing a similar value in other studies involving tropical plants, while transfer factor value for ²²⁶Ra was 15 times higher than the value reported in the data for tropical plants.

Key words: activity concentration, environmental transfer, natural radionuclide, soil-to-plant transfer factor, primordial radionuclide

FULL PAPER IN PDF FORMAT (562 KB)