Behavior of Cesium-137 in some Brazilian Oxisols

Abstract

Cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) soil-to-plant transfer factors obtained in an accidentally contaminated Oxisol in Goiânia and another Oxisol experimentally contaminated show that these soils present higher transfer of ¹³⁷Cs from soil to plants than previously observed in temperate climates. These differences were discussed in the light of the pedology and geochemical partitioning. Some tropical soil characteristics, such as acidity, low availability of nutritive elements and low content of 2:1 clay type may account for the high mobility for ¹³⁷Cs even after a long period after contamination. Results of sequential extraction showed that most of the ¹³⁷Cs is bound to soil oxides.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency under contract No. 7468/RI/RB. The authors thank Ernani Marchon for help with the experiments and H. Zylberberg and V. Medeiros for help with the laboratory work. The authors are also grateful to the anonymous reviewer for his valuable suggestions.