Transfer factors of 226Ra, 210Pb and 210Po from soil
contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in oilfields to some
grazing plants were determined using pot experiments. Contaminated soil was collected from
a dry surface evaporation pit from a Syrian oilfield in the Der Ezzor area. Five types of
plants (Atriplex halimus L., Atriplex canescens, Atriplex Leucoclada Bioss,
Alfalfa and Bermuda grass) were grown and harvested three times over two years.
The results show that the mean transfer factors of 226Ra from the contaminated
soil to the studied plant species were 1.6 × 10-3 for Atriplex
halimus L., 2.1 × 10-3 for Atriplex
canescens, 2.5 × 10-3 for Atriplex Leucoclada
Bioss, 8.2 × 10-3 for Bermuda grass, and the
highest value was 1.7 × 10-2 for Alfalfa. Transfer
factors of 210Pb and 210Po were higher than 226Ra TFs by
one order of magnitude and reached 7 × 10-3, 1.1 × 10-2,
1.2 × 10-2, 3.2 × 10-2 and 2.5 × 10-2
for Atriplex halimus, Atriplex canescens, Atriplex Leucoclada Bioss, Bermuda grass
and Alfalfa, respectively. The results can be considered as base
values for transfer factors of 226Ra, 210Pb and 210Po in
semiarid regions.