Mitigation of radium-226 in agricultural soils and influence of soil-to-plant transfer factor and physical–chemical properties of soil

The mitigation rate (Rj) was evaluated for Ra-226 in cultivated soil in twelve fields in Vietnam. For the collected soils, the Rj values were between 0.1 and 0.58 Bq kg−2 y−1 with an average value of 0.28 Bq kg−2 y−1. The influence of the physicochemical properties of soil and cultivation characteristics on the rate of Ra-226 was considered. A strong correlation was found between the soil-to-plant factors (TF) and the uptake rates of plants (Ru) (Pearson coefficient |p|> 0.6). The leaching rate (Rℓ) in the surface soil correlates with some physical–chemical properties of soil such as the partition coefficient of Ra-226 in soil (Kd), infiltration rate of water (Rw), and activity concentration of Ra-226 in soil water (Cw) (|p|> 0.6).