How can americium get into plants?

04/28/2023

This was the subject of Julia Stadler's doctoral thesis, which she completed today in a sovereign disputation. Am-241 is the decay product of Pu-241, which was released in large quantities almost exactly 37 years ago, on April 26, 1986, during the Chernobyl reactor accident.

Today, Am-241 is the dominant alpha emitter in the contaminated zone (CEZ, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone) and therefore of outstanding relevance. In her work, Julia Stadler took an important step towards a molecular mechanistic process understanding of the pathway of radionuclides into plants and thus into the human food chain.

Go to list