This book provides extensive and comprehensive knowledge to the researchers academics who are
working in the field of cesium contaminated sites and the impact on plants. This book is also
helpful for graduate and undergraduate students who are specializing in radioecology or safe
disposal of radioactive waste remediation of legacies and the impact on the environment.
Radiocesium (137Cs and 134Cs) was released into the environment as a result of nuclear weapons
testing in 1950s and 1960s (~1x1018 Bq) and later due to the Chernobyl accident in 1986
(8.5x1016 Bq) and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011 (~1x1017 Bq). 137Cs is still of
relevance due to its half-life of 30 years. The study of radioisotope 137Cs is important as
production and emission rates are high compared to other radioisotopes due to high fission
yield and high volatility.This book contains original work and reviews on how cesium is
released into the environment on translocation from soilto plants and further on to animals and
into the human food chain. Separate chapters focus on the effective half-life of cesium in
plants and on how different cultivars are responding in accumulation of cesium. Other key
chapters focus on cesium impact on single cells to higher plants and also on remediation
measures as well as on basic mechanism used for remedial options and analysis of transfer
factors. The book rounds off by contributions on cesium uptake and translocation and its
toxicity in plants after the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents.
