RESUMO
The contents of natural radioactive nuclides such as uranium and thorium in paddies were analyzed and compared by means of ICP-MS. Totally 14 paddy samples were distinguished into two groups and collected from two rice planting area. One group (12 paddy samples) was collected from the Xiangshan uranium deposit area, Jiangxi province; while the other group (2 samples) collected from non-uranium deposit suburban area of Fuzhou city, Jiangxi, as comparison samples. The distance between the two sampling areas is about 80 kilometers. Before analysis, those paddy samples were continuously carbonized by two hours first, then continuously incinerated for 8 hours at the temperature of 600 degrees centigrade. The results show that the uranium contents in the paddy ash of samples gotten from Xiangshan uranium deposit area range from 0.053 to 1.482 microg x g(-1). The uranium contents of two comparison paddy samples ash are 0.059 and 0.061 microg x g(-1), respectiovely. The average uranium content of paddy ash of uranium deposit area is 0.323 microg x g(-1). Compared with the comparison samples, the uranium contents of paddy ash of uranium deposit area are considerably high, 5.30 times that of non-uranium deposit area. The thorium contents in paddy ash of the uranium deposit area, however, are relatively low and less than that of samples collected from non-uranium deposit area, which range from 0.029 to 0.311 microg x g(-1); The average level is 0.104 microg x g(-1), only about 50% of that of paddy ash sampled from non-urnaium deposit area. Moreover, there is significant linearity correlation between uranium and thorium contents of paddy sampled from Xiangshan uranium deposit area. The positive effects show that the thorium contents of paddy increase as uranium contents of paddy in uranium deposit area increase. The causes for the remarkable difference in uranium contents in paddy between urianium deposit area and non-uranium deposit area are not clear yet. The research on this topic, however, is very important and significant to the regional rice quality and food security.
