Use of plants to stabalise radionuclide transfer in Belgian soils: a pilot study

Due to anthropogenic activity like the processing of materials rich in naturally occurring radionuclides (NOR), environmental concentrations of radionuclides and co-occurring heavy metals increased. For legacy sites enriched in these NOR materials harsh remediation actions are taken involving e.g. removing the topsoil layer. However, these actions are expensive, result in increasing waste fractions and are often not sufficient to remove all contaminants. Additionally, they result in a decrease in soil health. In this thesis we want to study alternative sustainable and cost-efficient remediation methods. In particular, a pilot study will be set up to investigate if plants and certain amendments can be used to stabalise residual radionuclide and heavy metal contamination in soils. To this end small lab based experiments will be set up testing different plant pioneering varieties like birch trees in combination with microbial communities to increase soil health. In addition to leaching and transfer of the contaminants different (bio)chemical parameters will be followed to estimate soil health. 

During this internship the student will set up lab scale experiments to study transfer and leaching of radionuclides and metals in soil. Hence, leaching tests will be set-up in a synthetic soil system. For a selection of pioneering plants, he or she will follow plant growth and uptake of radionuclides and metals in plant root and shoot tissue cultivate different bacteria cultures that can be used to improve plant growth and reduce radionuclide and metal transfer set-up of small mesocosm experiments (plant bacteria).