Speaker
Description
Fly ash is a by-product from Coal-Fired Power Plants (CFPPs), which is a NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) industry, and presents enhanced activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 210Po, among other naturally occurring radionuclides. Formerly considered as waste, it is considered a by-product which can be used in different ways, such as additive to cement production or soil amendment in agriculture. The latter may imply a radiological hazard due to the introduction of these radionuclides into the food chain pathway. In order to assess its importance, laboratory experiments under controlled conditions were carried out by amending soil used for wheat cultivation with a known amount of fly ash. Then, wheat plantlets were cultivated under laboratory conditions until the two-leaf stage using original soil as control and amended soil. Soil-to-plant transfer factors showed a general decrease in radionuclide transfer when using amended soil.