SREL Reprint #2306

Operationally defined availability from sequential extractions compared to plant uptake of 137Cs and 90Sr

T. G. Hinton1, M. A. Malek1, C. Sherony1, and S. B. Clark2

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
2Department of Environmental Chemistry, Washington State University, P.O. Box 644630,
Pullman, WA 99164-4630, USA

Abstract: The operationally defined bioavailable fraction from a commonly used sequential extraction (SE) procedure was compared to biological availability represented by plant uptake of 137Cs and 90Sr. Experiments were conducted at two locations in the Ukraine and at several field locations on the Savannah River Site, South Carolina. A significant regression existed between plant uptake and the ammonium acetate fraction (r2 = 0.65), however, ratios of predicted uptake from the SE procedure to observed plant uptake ranged from 0.03 to 5.2. Data suggest that the SE procedure was useful for qualitative interpretations of biological availability but lacked sufficient rigor to be useful for quantitative predictions.

SREL Reprint #2306

Hinton, T.G., M.A. Malek, C. Sherony, and S.B. Clark. 1998. Operationally defined availability from sequential extractions compared to plant uptake of 137Cs and 90Sr. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 235:185-190.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).