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Cadmium and Uranium in German and Brazilian Phosphorous Fertilizers

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Book cover The New Uranium Mining Boom

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Abstract

A collection of phosphorous (P) fertilizers used in Germany (N = 75) and southern Brazil (N = 39) was analyzed for cadmium (Cd) and uranium (U). Both collections show high mean concentrations of Cd (12.0 and 18.6 mg/kg respectively) and U (61.3 and 70.16 mg/kg respectively), while maximum concentrations of 56 mg Cd/kg and up to 200 mg U/kg were found. Currently, up to 42 t Cd and 228 t U are distributed annually on German and 611 t Cd and 1614 t on Brazilian agricultural soils by mineral P fertilizers.

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Smidt, G., Landes, F., Machado de Carvalho, L., Koschinsky, A., Schnug, E. (2011). Cadmium and Uranium in German and Brazilian Phosphorous Fertilizers. In: Merkel, B., Schipek, M. (eds) The New Uranium Mining Boom. Springer Geology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22122-4_20

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