Uranium in plants and the environment

Radionuclides and Heavy Metals in the Environment

Uranium

in Plants and the

Environment

Dharmendra K. Gupta

Clemens Walther Editors

Radionuclides and Heavy Metals in the

Environment

Series Editor:

Dharmendra K. Gupta

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover

Institut für Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz (IRS)

Hannover, Germany

Clemens Walther

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover

Institut für Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz (IRS)

Hannover, Germany

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16207

Dharmendra K. Gupta • Clemens Walther

Editors

Uranium in Plants and the

Environment

ISSN 2524-7409 ISSN 2524-7417 (electronic)

Radionuclides and Heavy Metals in the Environment

ISBN 978-3-030-14960-4 ISBN 978-3-030-14961-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14961-1

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Editors

Dharmendra K. Gupta

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität

Hannover

Institut für Radioökologie und

Strahlenschutz (IRS)

Hannover, Germany

Clemens Walther

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität

Hannover

Institut für Radioökologie und

Strahlenschutz (IRS)

Hannover, Germany

v

Preface

Uranium (U) is the heaviest naturally occurring actinide, existing almost entirely as

the primordial isotope 238U (99.27%, half-life of 4.5 billion years), as 235U in minor

quantities (0.72%), and as 234U in trace quantities (0.0055%). With an average con￾centration of 0.0003% (3 mgkg  –1) in the Earth’s crust, uranium is present in all

soils; in rocks such as volcanic rocks, granites, dark shales, sedimentary rocks that

contain phosphate, and metamorphic rocks; and in seawater (3.3 ppb of U by weight

(3.3  μgkg–1)). Uranium concentration in the Earth’s crust may range from 1 to

4 mgkg–1 in sedimentary rocks to tens or even hundreds of mg/kg in phosphate-rich

deposits or in U ore deposits. In surface soils and sediments and in aqueous systems,

U reacts with oxygen to form predominantly the hexavalent uranyl ion (UO2

2+)

which is highly stable and soluble, which determines its mobility, bioavailability,

uptake, and toxicity. Contamination of the biosphere by extensive release of ura￾nium (or its progenies) poses serious threats to living organisms, due to chemical

and radiological toxicity. Anthropogenic U contamination by mining and milling

operations contributes to the degradation of the environment. Even before its formal

discovery by the German chemist, Martin Klaproth, in 1789, U has been used for a

wide variety of purposes for coloring glass and ceramics. Its actual use is dominated

by the nuclear power industry, but also for military purposes.

Uranium has no essential biological function in the organisms, but a wide range

of both terrestrial and aquatic organisms uptake U from the environment. For exam￾ple, plants, bacteria, algae, and fungi were shown to accumulate U, and it has been

reported that the biological action of bacteria, algae, fungi, and plants can affect U

speciation and thus U bioavailability by adjusting the pH, extracellular binding, and

transformation and formation of complexes or precipitates. These organisms can

thus contribute in decreasing or increasing U entry into the food chain but could also

be used to develop bioremediation tools to decontaminate uranium-polluted sur￾roundings. In fresh water, numerous physico-/biochemical variables may affect U

speciation, bioavailability, uptake, and toxicity, which include pH, hardness, natural

organic matter, and microbial activity. In the case of soil, migration and mobility of

radionuclide always depend on various factors including pH, texture, exchangeable

vi

calcium/potassium, organic matter content, etc. and also weather conditions, plant

species, and land-use practices.

Generally, plant roots are associated with microorganisms, and these links can

have direct or indirect effects on the mobility, availability, and acquisition of ele￾ments by plants. The fast uptake of uranium by roots might result due to precipita￾tion of U in the apoplasm as was shown for other heavy metals and also might be

possible due to adsorption of U on the cell wall. Plant cell walls are made up of

cellulose fibers, hemicellulose, pectin, and glycoproteins. It is well-known that the

cell wall also works for root cation exchange capacity (CECR) basically for func￾tional groups of polysaccharides, including carboxyl and galacturonic acid groups

of roots, and, to a minor extent, for phenolic and amine groups. There are two ways

for radionuclides to enter plants: either through the roots or through the stomata

(direct deposition from the atmosphere). Stomatal entry is supposed to account only

for a small fraction of total radionuclide uptake. When a radionuclide enters through

the cuticle layer, it is dynamically transported inside the plant cells through a sym￾plastic pathway and with an exchange mechanism between the phloem and the

xylem.

The peculiarities of plant uptake and translocation of uranium are highly specific

for different types of plants and soil. Soils high in phosphorous content may tend to

suppress uranium uptake in plants. Mobility of U is reduced in finer-textured soils

and those high in organic matter. Plants cannot differentiate isotopes of heavy ele￾ments and consequently take up isotopes in the ratios present in soil solution. The

utmost forms of plant-available U in shallow groundwater are soluble carbonate

complexes, with uranium dominantly present in the hexavalent oxidation state.

Generally, the soil-to-plant relocation of elements is often parameterized by the

transfer factor (TF). Basically, the TF is the activity concentration of the radionu￾clide per unit dry mass in the plants (Bqkg–1) divided by the one in the soil (also

given in Bqkg–1).

During the past two to three decades, phytoremediation practices became a very

attractive popular alternative to the conventional expensive and energy- and

instrument-intensive, chemical-based restoration techniques of the vast polluted

areas of land and water. Plants are usually resistant to moderate concentrations of

radionuclides. Nevertheless, biosorption to cell walls, extracellular precipitation,

reduced uptake, or amplified efflux are mutual tools from which plants check abi￾otic stress and also decrease the absorption of metal inflow in cells.

The most remarkable features of this book are interrelated to how U enters the

ecosystem and its translocation from soil to plants and finally into the food chain of

man. Chapters 1–3 deal with the beginning of the nuclear age till now, impact of U

mining on human health, and soil-to-plant transfer of U and its distribution with a

case study on Belarusian soil. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on biogeochemistry of U in

tropical environment and mechanism of U accumulation in agricultural plants.

Chapters 6–8 focus on what are the factors influencing soil-to-plant transfer, its

translocation mechanism, its correlation with other metals, and uptake and phytore￾mediation approaches. Chapters 9–11 emphasize on the influence of U speciation

on uptake mechanism, epidemiological studies with some modeling, legacy, and

Preface

vii

risk assessment. The information collected in this volume will bring in profound

knowledge of U uptake and translocation and its toxicity in plants and finally its

effect on health.

Dr. Dharmendra K.  Gupta and Prof. Clemens Walther individually thank all

authors for contributing their valuable time, knowledge, and enthusiasm to bring

this book into its present form.

Hannover, Germany Dharmendra K. Gupta

Clemens Walther

Preface

ix

Contents

Uranium in the Beginning of the Nuclear Age: Reflections

on the Historical Role of Jáchymov and an Overview of Early

and Present Epidemiological Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Jozef Sabol

Uranium and Its Distribution in Typical Belarusian Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Galina A. Sokolik, Svetlana V. Ovsiannikova, and Maryna V. Papenia

Environmental and Health Impact Due to Uranium Mining . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Rajiv Ranjan Srivastava, Pankaj Pathak, and Mosarrat Perween

Biogeochemistry of Uranium in Tropical Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Juliana A. Galhardi, Daniel M. Bonotto, Carlos E. Eismann,

and Ygor Jacques A. B. Da Silva

The Behaviour of Uranium in Soils and the Mechanisms

of Its Accumulation by Agricultural Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Aleksandr N. Ratnikov, Dmitry G. Sviridenko, Galina I. Popova,

Natalia I. Sanzharova, and Rena A. Mikailova

Factors Influencing the Soil to Plant Transfer of Uranium . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Javier Guillén and F. M. Gómez-Polo

Uranium and Plants: Elemental Translocation and Phytoremediation

Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Dharmendra K. Gupta, Soumya Chatterjee, Anindita Mitra, Anna

Voronina, and Clemens Walther

Soil-to-Crop Transfer Factor: Consideration on Excess Uranium

from Phosphate Fertilizer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Keiko Tagami and Shigeo Uchida

Influence of Uranium Speciation on Plant Uptake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Nan Hu, Hui Zhang, Dexin Ding, Yujian Tan, and Guangyue Li

x

Assessment Modelling and the Evaluation of Radiological

and Chemical Impacts of Uranium on Humans

and the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

M. C. Thorne

Biokinetic Modelling and Risk Assessment of Uranium in Humans . . . . . 217

Rohit Mehra and Sarabjot Kaur

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Contents

xi

Contributors

Daniel M. Bonotto Department of Petrology and Metalogy, Institute of Geosciences

and Exact Sciences, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil

Soumya Chatterjee Defence Research Laboratory, DRDO, Tezpur, Assam, India

Dexin Ding Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in

Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang,

Hunan, P. R. China

Carlos E. Eismann Center for Environmental Studies, São Paulo State University,

Rio Claro, Brazil

Juliana A. Galhardi Department of Chemistry, University of Montreal, Montréal,

QC, Canada

F.  M.  Gómez-Polo LARUEX, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of

Veterinary Science, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

Javier Guillén LARUEX, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Veterinary

Science, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

Dharmendra K. Gupta Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut

für Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz (IRS), Hannover, Germany

Nan  Hu Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in

Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang,

Hunan, P. R. China

Sarabjot Kaur Environment Monitoring and Assessment Laboratory, Department

of Physics, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab,

India

Guangyue Li Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology

in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang,

Hunan, P. R. China

xii

Rohit Mehra Environment Monitoring and Assessment Laboratory, Department

of Physics, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab,

India

Rena  A.  Mikailova Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk,

Kaluga Region, Russia

Anindita  Mitra Department of Zoology, Bankura Christian College, Bankura,

West Bengal, India

Svetlana  V.  Ovsiannikova Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Belarusian State

University, Minsk, Belarus

Maryna V. Papenia Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Belarusian State University,

Minsk, Belarus

Pankaj Pathak Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Marwadi

University, Marwadi Education Foundation, Rajkot, Gujarat, India

Mosarrat  Perween Department of Chemistry, Dolat-Usha Institute of Applied

Sciences and Dhiru-Sarla Institute of Management and Commerce, Valsad, Gujarat,

India

Galina  I.  Popova Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk,

Kaluga Region, Russia

Aleksandr N. Ratnikov Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk,

Kaluga Region, Russia

Jozef Sabol Faculty of Security Management, Department of Crisis Management,

PACR in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Natalia I. Sanzharova Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk,

Kaluga Region, Russia

Ygor Jacques A. B. Da Silva Department of Agronomy, Federal Rural University

of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

Galina  A.  Sokolik Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Belarusian State University,

Minsk, Belarus

Rajiv  Ranjan  Srivastava Department of Environmental Technology Institute

Research & Development Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Da Nang, Vietnam

Dmitry G. Sviridenko Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk,

Kaluga Region, Russia

Keiko Tagami Biospheric Assessment for Waste Disposal Team, National Institute

of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science

and Technology, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan

Contributors

xiii

Yujian Tan Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in

Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang,

Hunan, P. R. China

M. C. Thorne Quarry Cottage, Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland, County Durham,

UK

Shigeo Uchida Biospheric Assessment for Waste Disposal Team, National Institute

of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science

and Technology, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan

Anna  Voronina Radiochemistry and Applied Ecology Department, Physical

Technology Institute, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Clemens  Walther Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für

Radioökologie und Strahlenschutz (IRS), Hannover, Germany

Hui Zhang Key Discipline Laboratory for National Defense for Biotechnology in

Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang,

Hunan, P. R. China

Contributors

xv

About the Editors

Dharmendra K. Gupta is Senior Scientist of Environmental Biotechnology/

Radioecology and has already published more than 90 refereed research papers/

review articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited 13 books. His field of research

includes abiotic stress by radionuclides/heavy metals and xenobiotics in plants,

antioxidative system in plants, and environmental pollution (radionuclides/heavy

metals) remediation through plants (phytoremediation).

Clemens Walther is Professor of Radioecology and Radiation Protection and

Director of the Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection at the Leibniz

Universität Hannover. He published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed jour￾nals. His field of research is actinide chemistry with a focus on solution species and

formation of colloids and ultra-trace detection and speciation of radionuclides in the

environment by mass spectrometry and laser spectroscopy.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 1

D. K. Gupta, C. Walther (eds.), Uranium in Plants and the Environment,

Radionuclides and Heavy Metals in the Environment,

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14961-1_1

Uranium in the Beginning of the Nuclear

Age: Reflections on the Historical Role

of Jáchymov and an Overview of Early

and Present Epidemiological Studies

Jozef Sabol

Abstract Following its discovery, more than 200 years ago, uranium found useful

applications in a number of various areas especially those related to industry,

research and also medicine. The uranium history has been closely associated with

the discovery of radioactivity which opened the door to the separation and later to

the production of many useful radionuclides. The importance of uranium was rec￾ognized particularly owing to its ability to undergo fission process leading to the

release of much more energy than it is possible to acquire from chemical reactions.

Namely, the fission has been widely utilized in nuclear reactors to generate electric￾ity in nuclear power plants. Such reactors are also used to produce a great number

of radionuclides and for fundamental and applied research. Unfortunately, the fis￾sion has also been used for military purpose that resulted later in the construction of

weapons of mass destruction. The extensive demand for uranium led to the expan￾sion of uranium mining, milling and processing which led to some problems includ￾ing exposure of workers and the radioactive contamination of the environment. The

health effects associated with uranium and its compounds were fully recognized

only during the last 70 years. This resulted in worldwide adoption of the relevant

strict measures for adequate protection of people and the environment in line with

the latest international safety requirements. The data concerning these health effects

were acquired from numerous epidemiological studies based on which relevant

safety procedures have been developed and implemented. The chapter presents a

short overview of the uranium’s early history, which began in Jáchymov, together

with uranium mining, uses and the assessment of its biological effects based on

epidemiological studies.

Keywords Uranium · Mining and milling · Radioactivity · Radium · Radon ·

Decay products · Fission · Use of uranium · Nuclear fuel cycle · Health effects ·

Epidemiological studies · Radiation protection

J. Sabol (*)

Faculty of Security Management, Department of Crisis Management, PACR in Prague,

Prague, Czech Republic

e-mail: sabol@polac.cz