Investigation of the soil–plant transfer of primordial radionuclides in tomatoes by low-level γ-ray spectrometry

The paper presents actual data from investigations of the soil-plant transfer of the primordial radionuclides 40K, 238U, 226Ra, 210Pb and 227Ac for tomatoes growing at soils from former uranium mining areas. The analysis were carried out using low-level γ-ray spectrometry in a 47 m deep underground laboratory. For tomato fruits transfer factors of (0.0007 ± 0.0006) for 238U, (0.0021 ± 0.0017) for 226Ra, (0.0015 ± 0.0009) for 210Pb and (0.0018 ± 0.0012) for 227Ac were obtained. The investigation of the soil-plant transfer by low-level γ-ray spectrometry is often limited by the Compton-continuum from the always present high-energy γ-ray emitter 40K.