The EDTA Amendment in Phytoextraction of¹³⁴Cs From Soil by Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea)

Abstract

Soil contamination with radiocaesium is a significant problem at any countries when a nuclear accident occurred. Recently, phytoextraction technique is developed to remediate the contaminated environment. However, the application is limited by the availability of the contaminant for root uptake. Therefore, a green house trial experiment of soil amendment with ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been conducted to examine (134)Cs availability for root uptake. Two groups of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) were cultivated in (134)Cs contaminated soil. The soil in the first group was treated with EDTA amendment, while the other was not. Plant growth was observed gravimetrically and the (134)Cs concentration in soil as well as plants were determined using gamma spectrometry. The plant uptake capacity was determined as transfer factor (Fv), and the Fv values of 0.22 ± 0.0786 and 0.12 ± 0.039 were obtained for the soil treated with and without EDTA amendment, respectively. The phytoextraction efficiency of the plant cultivated in (134)Cs contaminated soil both with and without EDTA amendment was low. The EDTA amendment to the soil seems to enhance the (134)Cs availability for root uptake of Indian mustard and can still be considered to assist the field phytoremediation of contaminated soil.

A novel role for methyl cysteinate, a cysteine derivative, in cesium accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana

“…Some researchers have reported that an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi improve cesium phytoaccumulation efficiency 17 18 , while others have contradicted this 19 20 , and there is an ongoing debate on the effect of cesium on colonisation of AM fungi 21 . Others have proposed soil amendment with small molecules such as ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) and organic acids as an option to increase cesium accumulation in plants 22 23 . The use of ammonium has given contradicting results in respect of cesium accumulation in various plant species and soil types 24 25 26 .…”

Removal of cesium from contaminated soils using EDTA-Na and DTPAchelating agents

“…Remediation of Cs-contaminated soils is therefore an obligation to ensure environmental safety [28][29]. This can be conducted via different techniques, such as bioremediation, thermal desorption electrokinetic remediation and soil leaching [30].Chemical washing represents a good candidate for remediation of contaminants from soil via either acids (HNO 3 , HCl, H 3 PO 4 and H 2 SO 4 ) [31] or synthetic chelators [32].For example,the cationic surfactant(dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) released sorbedcesium (up to 97%),in which ammonium ions substitute Cs within the interlayers of clay minerals [33].Maybe, the usage of biodegradable components like NTA, EDDS, EDDG, EDDM, HIDS and PDA could besafer; yet still all of these agents exhibit relatively lower efficienciesin extraction of contaminants from soil versus EDTA-Na and DTPA [34] whose low molecular weights increase their efficiency to form strong complexes with Cs [35][36]. The current study aims at evaluating the efficiencies of both EDTA-Na and DTPA in washing Cs out of soils of different characters and varying contents of Cs (50, 100 and 200 mg Cs kg -1 )in relation to the risk assessment of cesium.…”

Microcontroller Atmega328p Timer/Counter for Single Channel Gamma Spectroscopy

“…In the Bandung nuclear area, there are TRIGA2000 research reactors, single-channel, and multi-channel spectroscopic equipment. Singlechannel spectroscopy is used for environmental radioactivity research activities such as the phytoremediation research conducted by Tjahaja [4]. The system consists of a NaI(Tl) detector, Tennelec TC-241 Amplifier, Canberra Timing-SCA 2037A, and Canberra Dual Counter Timer 2071A.…”