Changes in the mobility of uranium, radium, and thorium compounds in the plow layer of podzolic soil

Abstract

Data on the physicochemical status of uranium, radium, and thorium 3 and 13 years after the input of their water-soluble compounds to the plow layer of loamy podzolic soil showed that they were strongly bound and fixed in the soil exchange complex. The changes in their mobility were of long-term character. The strength of the sorption depended on the physicochemical properties of the elements. When the specific activity decreased, the proportion of fixed radionuclides in the soil increased. The major part of the mobile elements was concentrated in the compounds extractable by 1 M HCl.