Abstract
The plant/soil transfer factors (TFs) of uranium (U-238), thorium (Th-232) and potassium (K-40) were measured in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) at five different natural background soils. The TFs (on a dry weight basis) were in the range of 0.003-0.473, 0.003-0.548 and 0.430-1.479 for(238)U,Th-232 and(40)K, respectively. The concentrations of(238)U in groundnuts were in the order: roots > pods > seeds > leaves, while for(232)Th the order was roots > pods > seeds > leaves and for(40)K the order was roots > seeds > pods > leaves. The uptake of(40)K in groundnuts showed an inverse relationship with the uptake of(238)U. We observed that among three natural radionuclides, the(40)K transfer factor values are higher than those of(238)U and(232)Th in all cases.