Project title: Uptake of ESS-specific radionuclides by edible plants cultivated in Southern Sweden
Main applicant: Robert Frost, Division of Applied Nuclear Physics
Grant amount: SEK 4 000 000 for the period 2023-2027
In this application, we propose a PhD project which aims to investigate the possibility that radionuclides, related to the European Spallation Facility ESS, enter the human food chain through the crops that are usually grown in the agricultural lands around the ESS facility.
ESS is a large neutron research facility under construction in Lund, Sweden. Via nuclear reactions in its tungsten beam target, the facility will produce a quantity of radionuclides that can be dispersed into the environment after an accident. These radionuclides are specific to the facility, for example isotopes of W, Hf, Ta, Gd and Lu. There is great uncertainty about how these radionuclides behave in the surrounding environment and what risk they would pose to human health in the long term. With the proposed research project, we want to answer the following questions:
- Do heavy metals such as hafnium and gadolinium (which the facility may release into the environment) migrate through the soil as cesium does?
- Are the plant species grown on arable land in Skåne sensitive to the presence of ESS-related metal traces in the soil? Do they accumulate these metals?
- Is there any risk of people being exposed to radioactive emissions from ESS via food grown near the plant?
The proposed project will provide a better understanding of new radioactive contamination and will contribute to improving radiation protection preparedness and environmental policies related to large research facilities that produce radioactive substances.
