Availability of 99Tc in undisturbed soil cores

Models for safety assessment of radioactive waste repositories need accurate values of the soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides. In oxidizing environments, 99Tc is expected to occur as pertechnetate (99TcO4−). Due to its high mobility, leaching of this element in the field might be important, potentially affecting the reliability of estimated transfer parameters of 99Tc as measured in closed experimental systems such as hydroponics or pot experiments. The aim of this experiment was to measure the leaching of 99Tc in undisturbed irrigated soil cores under cultivation as well as plant uptake and to study the possible competition between the two transfer pathways. Undisturbed soil cores (50×50 cm) were sampled from a Rendzic Leptosol (R), a colluvial Fluvic Cambisol (F) and a Dystric Cambisol (D) using PVC tubes (three cores sampled per soil type). Each core was equipped with a leachate collector at the bottom, allowing the monitoring of 99Tc leaching through the cores. Cores were placed in a greenhouse and maize (Zea mays L., cv. DEA, Pioneer®) was sown. After 135 d, maize was harvested and radioactivity determined in both plant and water samples. Results showed that during the growing period, leaching of 99Tc was limited, due to the high evapotranspiration rate of maize. After harvest, leaching of 99Tc went on because of the absence of evapotranspiration. Effective uptake (EU) of 99Tc in leaves and grains was calculated. EU reached 70% of the input in the leaves and was not significantly different among soils. These results confirmed those obtained from pot experiments, even though leaching was allowed to occur in close-to-reality hydraulical conditions. As a consequence, it was concluded that pot experiments are an adequate surrogate for more complex ‘close-to-reality’ experimental systems for measuring transfer factors.