Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2016, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (6): 464-467.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2016.06.010

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Study of enrichment capacity of wild herbaceous plant for uranium

JIANG Xiaoyan, YAN Dong, HE Yingxue, LI Yifeng, DING Kuke   

  1. Department of Radioecology, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China
  • Received:2016-08-28 Revised:2016-10-22 Online:2016-11-30 Published:2016-11-30

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The project was based firstly on field surveys to understand plant community ecology around uranium tailings in the North as well as the dominant plant and soil uranium concentrations. Secondly,the characteristics of radioactive nuclide uranium accumulation in the plant was determined in order to further explore phytoremediation technology for uranium-contaminated soil repair. METHODS: To observe the growth condition of mining area of wild plants,to collect common wild herbaceous plant samples in different work places,to detect the content of radioactive uranium using ICP-MS in plants and soil,to screen out plants of strong capability to accumulate uranium,and to explore the methods and technique of phytoremediation technology with contaminated soil. RESULTS: The uranium content of in the underground part of plants samples was higher than that of the above ground part. For each plant,the uranium content from high to low was root,leaf,stem,flowers and fruit respectively. In the No. 3 work place,the uranium content of Polygonum orientale L. root was 64.10 μg/g which was 2.29×higher than that of other plants. At 2 km outside the uranium mine area,the uranium content in edible part (niblet) of collected samples of corn was lower than that in the inedible parts. The uranium enrichment coefficient in edible part of corn (niblet) was 0.000 9,the inedible part of corn was 0.039. CONCLUSION: Plant samples around uranium mine sites showed accumulation of uranium. Enrichment was mainly in plant roots and uranium content in different parts of plant were root > leaf > stem > flower and fruit. Enrichment of plants can be used for phytoremediation of soil pollution,for improvement of ecological environment,and for evaluation of food safety in nuclear accident emergency. Further study on plant enrichment of uranium can have application value and practical significance.

Key words: uranium mine, uranium, accumulation, herbaceous plant

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