Fertilizer-Derived Uranium and its Threat to Human Health

Fiabilitate şi Durabilitate, 2012

Gamma-ray spectrometric measurements of samples of riverbed sediments and soil samples taken along the valley of a river, which runs very close to a uranium mine retaining dam are performed. The content of 238U, 226Ra, 210 Pb, 232Th, and 40K is analyzed. Up to a distance of about 6 km away from the retaining dam, 238U, 226Ra and 210Pb have high concentrations and the content in the sediments samples is consistently higher than the content in the soil samples. In the same interval are observed considerable fluctuations in the contents related to the swamping of the river. Receding at a greater distance from the retaining dam, the concentration of 238U, 226Ra and 210Pb decreases and has values close to the average ones. A very close correlation is established between the contents of the three radioactive nuclides. Regarding 232Th and 40K, the distribution characteristics along the profile are different in comparison with those of the 238U family members. The performed research contrib...

Oriental Journal Of Chemistry

Uranium(U) is one of the highly toxic heavy metals and radionuclides that has become a major threat to soil health. There are two types of sources of Uranium in the soil system, natural and anthropogenic. Natural sources of uranium include rock systems and volcanic eruptions while anthropogenic sources include mining activities, disposal of radioactive waste, application of phosphate fertilizers, etc. Uranium accumulation impacts germination, early seedling growth, photosynthesis, metabolic and physiological processes of the plants. Through its accumulation in the aerial parts of the plants, Uranium finds its way to the human body, where it has deleterious health impacts. Different studies have identified the various sources of Uranium, explored, and explained the geochemistry of Uranium in soil, assessed the Uranium uptake and toxicity to the plants, and further studied the impact on human health. Most studies focused on two stages, either soil-plant or plant-human system. However,...

Environmental contamination caused by radionuclides, in particular by uranium and its decay products is a serious problem worldwide. The development of nuclear science and technology has led to increasing nuclear waste containing uranium being released and disposed in the environment. The objective of this paper is to develop a better understanding of factors affecting uranium fixation and removal from different soils with different soil characteristics.

Uranium (U) in groundwater is hazardous to human health, especially if it is present in drinking water. The semiarid regions of southern India chiefly depend on groundwater for drinking purposes. In this regard, a comprehensive sampling strategy was adopted to collect groundwater representing different lithologies of the region. The samples were collected in two different seasons and analysed for major and minor ions along with total U in the groundwater. Two samples during pre monsoon (PRM) and seven samples during post monsoon (POM) had U > 30 μgL − 1 , which is above the World Health Organization's provisional guideline value. The high concentration of U (188 μgL − 1) was observed in the alluvial formation though a few samples showed the release of U near the pink granite (39 μgL − 1) and the concentration was low in the lateritic formation (10 μgL − 1). The uranyl carbonato complexes UO 2 (CO 3) 2 2− and UO 2 (CO 3) 3 4− were associated with high pH which facilitated the transport of U into groundwater especially during POM. U 3 O 8 is the major form observed in groundwater compared to either UO 2 or UO 3 in the both seasons. The uranium oxides were observed to be more prevalent at the neutral pH. Though U concentration increases with pH, it is mainly governed by the redox conditions. The principal component analysis (PCA) analysis also suggested redox conditions in groundwater to be the major process facilitating the U release mechanism regardless of the season. The POM season has an additional source of U in groundwater due to the application of nitrogenous fertilizers in the alluvium region. Furthermore, redox mobilization factor was predominantly observed near the coastal region and in the agricultural regions. The process of infiltration of the fertilizer-induced U was enhanced by the agricultural runoff into the surface water bodies in the region. Health risk assessment was also carried out by determining annual effective dose rate, cancer mortality risk, lifetime average daily dose and hazard quotient to assess the portability of groundwater in the study area. Artificial recharge technique and reducing the usage of chemical based fertilizers for irrigation are suggested as sustainable plans to safeguard the vulnerable water resource in this region.

Environmental Pollution, 2007

Uranium uptake by plants is not related to simple bioavailability parameters and only complex models considering several soil characteristics predict uranium uptake which is influenced by uranium speciation.

Thesis Manchester Uk the University of Manchester 2013, 2013

Archives of Toxicology, 2020

Uranium (U) has no known essential biological functions. Furthermore, it is well known for its toxicity, radioactivity, and carcinogenic potency. Impacts on human health due to U exposure have been studied extensively by many researchers. Chronic exposure to low-level U isotopes (radionuclides) may be interlinked with cancer etiology and at high exposure levels , also kidney disease. Other important issues covered U and fertilizers, and also U in soils or human tissues as an easily measurable indicator element in a pathophysiological examination. Furthermore, phosphate fertilization is known as the important source of contamination with U in the agricultural land, mainly due to contamination in the phosphate rock applied for fertilizer manufacture. Therefore, long-term usage of U-bearing fertilizers can substantially increase the concentration of U in fertilized soils. It should also be noted that U is an active redox catalyst for the reaction between DNA and H 2 O 2. This review is aimed to highlight a series on various hydro-geochemical aspects in different water sources and focused on the comparison of different U contents in the drinking water sources and presentation of data in relation to health issues.

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 2011

Radioprotection, 2002

A new and accurate method for determination of uranium isotopes ( 238 U, 234 U and 235 U) in environmental samples by alpha spectrometry has been developed. Uranium is preconcentrated from filtered water samples by coprecipitation with iron (III) hydroxide at pH 9-10 using ammonia solution and the precipitate is dissolved with HN0 3 and mineralised with H 2 0 2 and HF; uranium in biological samples is ashed at 600 °C, leached out with Na 2 C0 3 solution and mineralised with HN0 3 , HF and H 2 0 2 ; uranium in soil samples is melted with Na 2 C0 3 and Na 2 0 2 at 600 °C and leached out with HC1, HN0 3 and HF. The mineralised or leaching solution in 2 M HN0 3 is passed through a Microthene-TOPO (trioctyl-phosphine oxide) column; after washing uranium is directly eluted into a cell with ammonium oxalate solution, electrodeposited on a stainless steel disk and measured by alpha spectrometry. The lower limits of detection of the method are 0.37 Bq kg" 1 (soil) and 0.22 mBq l" 1 (water) for 238 U and 234 U and 0.038 Bq kg" 1 (soil) and 0.022 mBq l" 1 (water) for 235 U if 0.5 g of soil and 1 litre of water are analysed. Five reference materials supplied by IAEA have been analysed and reliable results are obtained. The average uranium yields for waters, mosses, lichens and sediments are 74.5+9.0%, 80.5±8.3%, 77.8±4.9% and 89.4±9.7% respectively.

Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 2011

This work was undertaken to study the influence of soil type and its physical and chemical properties on uranium sorption and bioavailability, in order to reduce the uncertainty associated with this parameter in risk assessment models and safe food production. The tests were conducted on three types of Serbian soils: alluvium, chernozem, and gajnjaca, from which 67 samples were taken. Dominant factors of uranium mobilisation: the specific content of total/ available form of uranium and phosphorus, the degree of acidity (pH KCl), and humus content and their correlation, were analysed. Content of available uranium form, according to the type of soil decreases in the following order: gajnjaca>alluvium>chernozem. It was found the medium correlation between pH values and available content of uranium in chernozem and gajnjaca, statistically significant at the level of significance of 99% and the alluvium at the level of significance of 95%. Correlation coefficients in all cases were negative, indicating that the reduction in pH increases the mobility of uranium and thus its availability for the adoption of the plants. Soil pH was the only dominant factor that significantly controlled the uranium value with no further significant contribution of other soil parameters.