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Investigation on the radiocesium transfer to rice plants near the water inlet of paddy fields via an in situ experiment using non-contaminated soil

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Abstract

An in situ model paddy field experiment was conducted using non-contaminated soil to identify factors that locally increase the radiocesium activity concentrations in rice near the water inlet of paddy fields. The results demonstrated that irrigation water intake reduced exchangeable potassium concentration and increased radiocesium activity concentration in the soil near the water inlet; thus, the radiocesium activity concentration in rice was negatively correlated with the former and positively with the latter. Exchangeable potassium flushing and deposition of suspended solids in the soil owing to irrigation water intake facilitated the transfer of radiocesium to rice plants near the water inlet.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and extend their profound gratitude to the farmers in Namie Town for their support and provision of the experimental paddy fields. This research was financially supported by a Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. JP19H03072) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by AK, RI, MT and YS. The investigation of the model paddy field experiment was performed with the involvement of TN and TK. The 137Cs activity concentration of samples was measured under the direction of NN. The data curation was performed by KS, SM and NH. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. The final manuscript was reviewed and edited by NY. The all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Natsuki Yoshikawa.

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Klevtsova, A., Inaba, R., Takahashi, M. et al. Investigation on the radiocesium transfer to rice plants near the water inlet of paddy fields via an in situ experiment using non-contaminated soil. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 4077–4086 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08448-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08448-1

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