Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 70 (2003) 139–154 www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvrad Technetium species induced in maize as measured by phosphorimager M. Simonoff a,* , T.V. Khijniak a,b , C. Sergeant a , M.H. Vesvres a , M.S. Pravikoff a , E. Leclerc-Cessac c , G. Echevarria d , S. Denys c,d a CNRS-UMR 5084—Chimie Nucle ´aire Analytique et Bioenvironnementale, Le Haut Vigneau, B.P. 120, 33175 Gradignan Cedex, France b Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 7/2 Prospect 60-letiya Oktyabrya, Moscow 117811, Russia c ANDRA, Parc de la Croix Blanche, 17, rue Jean Monnet, 92298 Chatenay-Malabry Cedex, France d Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120 ENSAIA-INPL/INRA-2, Avenue de la Fore ˆt de la Haye-B.P. 172, 54505 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy Cedex, France Received 1 June 2002; accepted 1 March 2003 Abstract Leaves of plants have the ability to accumulate the long-lived fission product 99 Tc. In the present work, an attempt was made to separate and characterize technetium species formed in maize grown on soil contaminated with Tc VII O 4 - solution. Data obtained from selective extrac- tion, a Phosphorimager and liquid scintillation were employed.  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Technetium; Speciation; Chromatography; Radionuclide; Bioaccumulation; Maize; Nuclear waste 1. Introduction Technetium (Tc) has only radioactive isotopes. Nuclide 99 Tc ( half-life, 2.13.10 5 yr, β - emitter with Eβ - max = 292 keV) is a fission product of 235 U and 239 Pu and is the most important isotope from an environmental point of view. The Tc content of soil * Corresponding author. Fax: +33-557-120-900. E-mail address: simonoff@cenbg.in2p3.fr (M. Simonoff). 0265-931X/03/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0265-931X(03)00123-1