Application and Experimental Substantiation of the Radioecological Model for Prediction in Behavior (90)Sr in Cultivated Soil-Crop System: A Case Study of Two Experimental Agricultural Fields.

The radioactive fission product (90)Sr has a sufficient half-life (28.8 years) to be detected long after its appearance in the environment. After its uptake into the soil-edible plant system, it enters the food chain and represents a potential source of contamination that threatens human health. Due to these facts, tracking the distribution of the artificial radionuclide (90)Sr in the soil-edible plant system is a subject of intense research. The tracking of the (90)Sr radionuclide distribution in the soil profile, as well as in the crops on the long-term experimental fields was carried out using beta radiation spectrometry. The radiochemical analytical method was used to analyze the (90)Sr content in cultivated soil and crops. The conducted study focused on the experimental substantiation of the developed model for predicting the behavior of (90)Sr in the cultivated soil-crop system. The results of using the applied radioecological model for the transfer of (90)Sr from the soil to the above-ground part of crops showed a relatively good agreement with the experimentally determined values of the soil-crop transfer factor, which indicates that the used model can be successfully applied for the prediction of the behavior of (90)Sr in the soil-soil solution-crop system.