Uptake of radioactive and stable Co and Zn isotopes by barley plants under mixed radioactive and chemical contamination of soils

The effect of Co and Zn on the accumulation of Co-60 and Zn-65 by plants was studied in experiments with growing barley on a soddy-podzolic soil and a chernozem containing the radionuclide and increasing concentrations (from the background level to a high degree of contamination) of the corresponding metal. The root uptake of Co-60 was directly related to the soil contamination with Co and its accumulation in the plants, while an inverse relationship was observed between the activity of Zn-65 in the plants and the content of Zn in the soil. It was concluded that the transfer of the radionuclide into the plants under mixed radioactive and chemical contamination depended, on the one hand, on the mobile reserve of the stable nuclide in the soil and the solid phase potential to release its ions into the soil solution and, on the other hand, on the requirement of the plants for this element and the uptake rate of its ions by the roots from the solution.