Abstract
Uranium mill tailings may present radiological hazards, from long-lived U isotopes, as well as toxicological hazards from trace elements such as As, Me, Se, V, Co, Cu, Ni, Zn, and Ph, associated with the sulfide minerals in the ore. Often, harmful effects of these trace elements are attributed to low-level ionizing radiation.
Our experimental study began when growth depression was observed in Scots Pine near a nuclear waste disposal area. Previous experiments discounted the initial hypothesis that this effect was due to low-level radiation and indicated that the soil contained possible phytotoxic levels of U, As and Co. In our study we compared the growth of Scots Pine seedlings in pots of soil from the waste site with that observed in a similar soil experimentally contaminated with ranges of U, As and Co. The concentrations applied to the experimentally contaminated soil were chosen to characterize the toxic response function for these elements.
The study suggested that the soil from the waste site did not contain lethal amounts of U, As and Co for Scots Pine seedlings. Arsenic and Co were more available to the plants from the experimentally contaminated soil and U was equally available to the plants from both soils. The mean observed plant concentration ratios for U, As and Co for Scots Pine seedling tops were about 0.03, 0.10, and 0.03, respectively.
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Issued as Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Report No. AECL-8325.
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Sheppard, M.I., Thibault, D.H. & Sheppard, S.C. Concentrations and concentration ratios of U, As and Co in scots pine grown in a waste-site soil and an experimentally contaminated soil. Water Air Soil Pollut 26, 85–94 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299491
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299491