Accumulation of 99Tc in duckweed Lemna minor L. as a function of growth rate and 99Tc concentration

This study focuses on the question of whether short-term studies can be used to forecast the accumulation of the long-lived fission product 99Tc in duckweed, Lemna minor L., grown in the field; in other words, are the accumulation parameters independent of changing growth rates typical of natural populations of duckweed. Two processes determine the 99Tc accumulation: (i) uptake and release of 99TcO4–, characterised by a concentration factor, Kd, and (ii) first-order reduction and complexation of TcVII, characterised by kred. At various 99Tc concentrations, the growth, total Tc and TcO4– accumulation were monitored over 10 days; parameters were fitted and compared with earlier results. Both Kd and kred turn out to be independent of time, concentration and growth rate up to a concentration of 10−6 mol l−1 99TcO4–. Concentrations above this level result in toxic effects. The Tc accumulation in field populations of duckweed at Tc concentrations which generally occur in the environment can be forecasted by using the results from short-term experiments.