Transfer of 210Po, 210Pb and 238U from some medicinal plants to their essential oils

Essential oils were extracted from 35 medicinal plants used by Syrians, organic compounds were determined in these oils and concentrations of 210Po 210Pb and 238U were determined in the original plants and in the essential oils. The results showed that the highest activity concentrations of 210Po and 210Pb were found in leaves with large surfaces and in Sage were as high as 73.5 Bq kg−1 and 73.2 Bq kg−1, respectively. The activity concentration of 238U was as high as 4.26 Bq kg−1 in Aloe. On the other hand, activity concentrations of 210Po ranged between 0.2 and 71.1 Bq kg−1 in extracted essential oils for Rosemary and False yellowhead, respectively. The activity concentration of 210Pb reached 63.7 Bq kg−1 in Aloe oil. The activity concentrations of 238U were very low in all extracted oils; the highest value was 0.31 Bq kg−1 in peel of Orange oil. The transfer of 210Po and 210Pb from plant to its oil was the highest for Eugenia; 7.1% and 5.5% for 210Po and 210Pb, respectively. A linear relationship was found between the transfer factor of radionuclides from plant to its essential oil and the chemical content of this oil.