Transfer of natural radionuclides from soil to water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk) under flooded and unflooded conditions in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Transfer of natural radionuclides from soil to water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk) in Hanoi, Vietnam have been investigated using a low background gamma spectrometer with an HPGe detector (Model-GC5019). Twenty pairs of soil and water spinach samples in two environmental conditions, i.e., flooded and unflooded, were collected for measuring the activity concentrations and determining the soil-to-plant transfer factors (TFs) of natural radionuclides. For water spinach, stems and leaves were collected as the main parts for human consumption and livestock food. The TF of ⁴⁰ K is within the range of 0.32-2.49, which is greater than that of ²²⁸ Ra (0.01-0.17) and ²²⁶ Ra (0.01-0.13). The geometric means (geometric standard deviations) of the TFs are 1.17(1.89), 0.05(2.41) and 0.04(1.88) for flooded sites, and 0.89(1.73), 0.03(2.12) and 0.03(1.82) for unflooded sites, respectively. Comparing between the flooded and unflooded sites, the TFs are all greater at the flooded sites.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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