Fixation of Radioactive Strontium in Soil

Abstract

THE contamination of agricultural areas by fission products from nuclear events is a possibility, and would in turn lead to contamination of plants. Of special importance is the long-lived strontium-90, as it has been shown¹ that this isotope is taken up by plants to a much greater extent than any of the other long-lived fission products. Much work^2–5 has, therefore, been concerned with the possibility of bringing down the strontium-90 uptake by plants through ploughing or through the addition of lime or fertilizer to the soil. Another factor, the effect of ageing on the availability of strontium, has been considered^6,7. In general, these methods appear to be of little practical value, except for deep ploughing and the liming of acid soils, both of which will reduce the strontium uptake by a factor of 3–4.