Highly weathered mineral soils have highest transfer risk of radiocaesium contamination after a nuclear accident: A global soil-plant study

Accidental release of radiocaesium (¹³⁷Cs) from nuclear power plants may result in long-term contamination of environmental and food production systems. Assessment of food chain contamination with ¹³⁷Cs relies on ¹³⁷Cs soil-to-plant transfer data and models mainly available for regions affected by the Chornobyl and Fukushima accidents. Similar data and models are lacking for other regions. Such information is needed given the global expansion of nuclear energy. We collected 38 soils worldwide of contrasting parent materials and weathering stages. The soils were spiked with ¹³⁷Cs and sown with ryegrass in greenhouse conditions. The ¹³⁷Cs grass-soil concentration ratio varied four orders of magnitude among soils. It was highest in Ferralsols due to the low ¹³⁷Cs interception potential of kaolinite clay and the low exchangeable potassium in these soils. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, the high plant uptake of ¹³⁷Cs in tropical soils. The most recent ¹³⁷Cs transfer model, mainly calibrated to temperate soils dominated by weathered micas, poorly predicts the underlying processes in tropical soils but, due to compensatory effect, still reasonably well predicts ¹³⁷Cs bioavailability across all soils (R² = 0.8 on a log-log scale).