Evaluation of semi-mechanistic models to predict soil to grass transfer factor of 137Cs based on long term observations in French pastures
Résumé
The aim of this study was to evaluate and improve the accuracy of the semi-mechanistic models used in regulatory
exposure assessment tools, to describe the transfer factors of
137
Cs from pasture soils to grass observed in
different grazing areas of France between 2004 and 2017. This involved a preliminary parameterization step of
the dynamic factor describing the ageing of radiocesium in the root zone using a Bayesian approach. A data set
with mid-term (10 years about) and long term (more than 20 years) field and literature data from 4 European
countries was used. A double kinetics of the bioavailability decay was evidenced with two half-life periods equal
to 0.46 ±
0.11 yr and 9.57 ±
1.12 yr for the fast and slow declining rates respectively. We, then, tested a few
existing alternative models proposed in literature. The comparison with field data showed that these models
always underestimated the observations by one to two orders of magnitude, suggesting that the solid-liquid
partition coefficient (Kd) was overestimated by models. The results suggest that semi mechanistic models
might fail in the long-term prediction of the radionuclide transfer from soil-to-plant in the food chain. They
highlight the need to calculate Kd using easily exchangeable
137
Cs (i.e. labile fraction) rather than total soil
137
Cs.
Domaines
Sciences de l'environnementOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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