A review of literature on the effectiveness of chemical amendments in reducing the soil-to-plant transfer of radiostrontium and radiocaesium

Abstract The range of soil-to-plant transfer factors (TFs) for radiocaesium and radiostrontium is very large when comparing individual data for all types of soils. However, when TFs are averaged over a number of years, differences are much smaller. The largest, average difference in TF between soils, which was found within one inventory of transfer data, is a factor of 50 for radiostrontium and of 40 for radiocaesium. However, the variability of the TF on agricultural (i.e. fertilized), mineral soils is, at most, a factor of 10, even when the texture of these soils varies considerably. By the addition of lime an average reduction in the TF of radiocaesium and radiostrontium of 60% can be achieved. The addition of K-fertilizers can reduce the TF of radiocaesium by 60% and that of radiostrontium by 20%. The higher the level of nutritive mineral elements in the soil, the smaller the potential effect that fertilization may have in reducing the transfer of radiocaesium and radiostrontium from soils to plants.