Department of Plant Tissue Cultures Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic Remediation of radionuclide contaminated sites using phytotechnologies Petr Soudek and Tomáš Vaněk
URANIUM MILL IN MYDLOVARY
MYDLOVARY The uranium mill was in operation from 1962-1991. About 16 745 835 tons of U-ore with a low content of uranium (0.184 %) were processed in this period. The U-ore was processed by two technologies: about 12 779 200 tons by acid-leached and about 3 989 800 tons by alkaline extraction. The sludge beds are distributed on area about 2.3298 km 2.
CONTENT Greenhouse studies Heavily polluted dumps Botanical survey Transfer of radionuclides Small field experiments Mydlovary Dreanage water Small constructed wetland Constructed wetland in the large scale Low contaminated areas Field experiment technical crops production Recultivated sites Biomonitoring
URANIUM MILL TAILINGS 212 Pb, 214 Pb and 227 Th C o u n t s 235 U and 226 Ra 214 Pb 214 Pb 214 Bi Energy [kev]
SOIL CHARACTERISTICS ph = 8.06 Particle size from 45 to 75 µm. Small amounts of SiO 2, but mostly very complex clay-like silicates of Na, Ca, Mn, Mg, Al, and Fe; also metallic oxides. Activity 22.63 Bq 226 Ra /g DW 50 g of dry soil extracted by 2 M solution HNO 3 CH 3 COOH H 2 O NH 4 OH NaOH 0.174 0.102 0.003 0.005 0.017 Bq/mL
HEAVILY POLLUTED DUMPS
GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENTS 27 plant species and cultivars were tested (2004)
POT EXPERIMENTS (2004) Substrate composition: uranium mill tailings + compost 1:3 total activity 13 Bq 226 Ra/ g DW Plant s pecies activity Bq 226Ra/g DW Amaranthus caudatus "Atropurpureus" 0,76 Amaranthus hypochondriacus 0,74 Amaranthus tricolor 0,59 Amaranthus tricolor "Early Splendor" 2,16 Brassica oleracea 0,75 Daucus carota 1,10 Lupinus albus 0,72 Lupinus luteolus 1,24 Lupinus polyphyllus 2,20 Lycopersicon lycopersicum "Albertovské" 0,86 Lycopersicon lycopersicum "Stupické" 0,57 Phas e olus vulgaris "Aida Gold" 0,55 Phase olus vulgaris "Bobis Nano" 0,95 Sinapis alba 0,55 Other plant species: Capsicum annuum, Linum usitatissimum, Canabis sativa, Pisum sativum, Helianthus annuus
SOIL PLANT TRANSFER 226 Ra http://www.phytodec.nl 7,5 7,0 Lupinus albus Lupinus luteolus log [HM plant ] 6,5 6,0 5,5 5,0 9 9,2 9,4 9,6 9,8 10 10,2 10,4 10,6 log [HM soil ] Log-log linear relationship is represented by the following formula: log[ 226 Ra]Lupinus albus = - 4,8736 + 1,155log[ 226 Ra]soil R 2 = 0,9065 log[ 226 Ra]Lupinus luteolus = - 0.1351 + 0,6835 * log[ 226 Ra]soil R 2 = 0,7546
PHYTOEXTRACTION DURATION Model conditions: activity of soil in Mydlovary = 21.75 Bq 226 Ra/g DW amount of polluted soil = 1000 ton annual production of Lupinus sp. = 10 ton the site contains 21.8 GBq 226 Ra 2,5E+10 the target clean-up level is 0.2 Bq 226 Ra /g DW 2,0E+10 Lupinus luteolus Lupinus albus activity [Bq] 1,5E+10 1,0E+10 5,0E+09 0,0E+00 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 time [years]
PLANT COLLECTION Calamagrostis epigeios Lactarius piperatus
ACTIVITY OF COLLECTED PLANTS 43 plant species tested Highest activity Lowest activity Plant species activitybq 226 Ra/g Pote ntilla re ptans 4,09 Mentha arvensis 4,00 Calamagrostis epigeios 3,40 Rubus caesius 2,65 Daucus carota 3,70 S ile ne vulgaris 2,60 Cirsium arvense 2,46 Hypericum perforatum 2,13 Echinum vulgare 1,79 Sphagnum fallax 1,76 Artemisia vulgaris 0,19 Trifolium repens 0,00 Amanita phalloides 0,00 S is ymbrium loes s e lli 0,10 Urtica dioica 0,11 Me lilotus officinalis 0,06 Tanacetum vulgare 0,08 Me lilotus alba 0,02 Polygonum amfibium 0,00
SMALL SCALE FIELD EXPERIMENTS Dump IV/R Total activity: 9 Bq/g of DW
SMALL SCALE FIELD EXPERIMENTS (2004) Plant species activity 226 Ra Bq/g DW Bromus lanceolatus 2,17 Cannabis sativa "Beniko" 0,28 Cannabis sativa "Juso-11" 0,41 Cannabis sativa "Silesia" 0,38 Capsicum annuum "Drákula" 0,94 Festuca glauca 1,70 Hypericum perforatum 1,02 Linum usitatissimum "Atalante" 0,15 Linum usitatissimum "Jitka" 0,26 Lupinus albus 0,89 Lupinus luteolus 0,66 Lupinus polyphyllus 1,29 Lycopersicon lycopersicum "Albertovské" 0,47 Mentha pipericum 3,05 Phaseolus vulgare "Bobis Nano" 0,30 Solidago canadiensis 1,60 Sorghum bicolor 1,03 Sorghum nigrum 1,55
5-XI. 26-X. 16-X. 6-X. 26-IX. 16-IX. 6-IX. TRANSFER OF RADIONUCLIDES Alnus glutinosa - leaves 0,30 2003 2004 0,25 0,20 0,15 0,10 0,05 0,00 27-VIII. 17-VIII. 7-VIII. 28-VII. 18-VII. 8-VII. 28-VI. 18-VI. 8-VI. 29-V. 19-V. 9-V. 29-IV. date of sampling activity [Bq 226 Ra/g DW]
LOW CONTAMINATED SITES
FIELD TEST 7000 m 2, Linum usitatissimum
FLAX AND HEMP ACTIVITY Plant species Linum usitatissimum Jitka Linum usitatissimum Atalante Cannabis sativa Beniko Cannabis sativa Juso Cannabis sativa Silesia [Bq 226 Ra/g] 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.02 Flax parts after processing Contaminated soil Seeds Fibres Awn Deseeded capsule Oil Atalante Jitka 0.06 0.000 Bq/g of DW 0.000 Bq/g of DW 0.000 Bq/g of DW 0.000 Bq/g of DW 0.010 Bq/g of DW 0.000 Bq/g of DW 0.005 Bq/g of DW 0.003 Bq/g of DW 0.000 Bq/mL 0.000 Bq/mL
ECONOMIC CALCULATION of land management Flax (Czech Republic) EU bonus for processing subvene for growing seeds stalk for fibre cultivation and harvest seed for sowing profit EUR / ha 364 243 117 749-625 -125 723
DREANAGE WATER
PILOT CONSTRUCTED WETLAND In cooperation with Bioplanta Typha latifolia Phragmites australis Carex buxbaumii Juncus inflexus Iris pseudacorus
TYPHA ROOT SYSTEM FROM CONTAINERS
ACCUMULATION OF URANIUM AND 226 Ra 600 0,25 uranium concentration [μg/l] 500 400 300 200 100 uranium radium 0,20 0,15 0,10 0,05 activity of 226 Ra [Bq/L] 0 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 time [days ] 0,00
ACCUMULATION OF URANIUM IN PLANTS Total 765 mg of U in drenage water biomass [kg] concentration [mg/kg] amount of U [mg] Phragmites australis upper parts roots + rhizome 0.36 1.33 1.1 4.1 0.396 5.453 Typha latifolia upper parts roots + rhizome 0.24 0.54 0.6 9.0 0.144 4.860 total 2.47 10.853 Total 694 mg of U in sludge (98.5 %)
SMALL SCALE CONSTRUCTED WETLAND
ACCUMULATION OF URANIUM 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 concentration [µg/l] 20 10 0 19.11.2004 20.9.2004 10.9.2004 31.8.2004 21.8.2004 30.9.2004 9.11.2004 30.10.2004 20.10.2004 10.10.2004 date
BIOMONITORING
BIOMONITORING OF RECULTIVATED DUMP Test of possible transfer of nuclides to technical crop plants Experiment start on June 2003 Plant species Linum usitatissimum Atalante Linum usitatissimum Jitka Helianthus annuus Zea mays Cannabis sativa Beniko Cannabis sativa Juso-11 Cannabis sativa Silesia [Bq 226 Ra/g] 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
NUCLEAR POWERPLANT
SELECTED LOCALITY
SELECTED LOCALITY Tested locality 2001 2002 2003 2004 Záluží 88 42 44 86 Sedlec 93 77 74 97 Chvaletice 77 89 52 91 Dříteň 79 98 79 57 Býšov 81 93 46 64 Hněvkovice 96 nd 89 56 Temelín 47 71 84 113
CONCLUSION Heavily polluted dumps unpossible clean by phytoremediation methods restricted for food crops production Low contaminated areas possible technical crops production Dreanage water constructed wetland is efficient for cleaning Recultivated sites possible transfer of radionuclides by trees technical crops production biomonitoring by plants
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT RNDr. T. Vaněk, CSc. Mgr. P. Petřík Ing. Š. Valenová Ing. M. Bjelková RNDr. M. Griga, CSc Dr. A. Gerth, Ph.D. Dr. A. Hebner, Ph.D. RNDr. M. Vágner, CSc Dr. Ing. R. Tykva, DrSc Ing. E. Podracká, Ph.D. Ing. V. Plojhar Ing. P. Starý Ing. M. Simota Inst. of Org. Chem. and Bioch. AS CR Inst. of Botany AS CR Univ. of Chemical Technology Agritec Ltd. Agritec Ltd. BioPlanta GmbH BioPlanta GmbH Inst. of Exp. Botany AS CR Inst. of Org. Chem. and Bioch. AS CR Inst. of Org. Chem. and Bioch. AS CR SUL o.z. SUL o.z. Agricultural company Ltd. Grant support: AVCR S4055014 and COST 859.
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