1. Level, distribution and sources of Np, Pu and Am isotopes in Peter the Great Bay of Japan sea.
- Author
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Sun J, Zhu S, Xing S, Kuzmenkova NV, Peng C, Lu Y, Rozhkova A, Petrov VG, Shi K, Kalmykov SN, and Hou X
- Subjects
- Japan, Bays, Radioisotopes analysis, Radiation Monitoring, Radioactive Fallout analysis, Water Pollutants, Radioactive analysis, Plutonium analysis
- Abstract
Transuranium elements such as Np, Pu and Am, are considered to be the most important radioactive elements in view of their biological toxicity and environmental impact. Concentrations of
237 Np, Pu isotopes and241 Am in two sediment cores collected from Peter the Great Bay of Japan Sea were determined using radiochemical separation combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurement. The239,240 Pu and241 Am concentrations in all sediment samples range from 0.01 Bq/kg to 2.02 Bq/kg and from 0.01 Bq/kg to 1.11 Bq/kg, respectively, which are comparable to reported values in the investigated area. The average atomic ratios of240 Pu/239 Pu (0.20 ± 0.02 and 0.21 ± 0.01) and241 Am/239+240 Pu activity ratios (3.32 ± 2.76 and 0.45 ± 0.17) in the two sediment cores indicated that the sources of Pu and Am in this area are global fallout and the Pacific Proving Grounds through the movement of prevailing ocean currents, and no measurable release of Np, Pu and Am from the local K-431 nuclear submarine incident was observed. The extremely low237 Np/239 Pu atomic ratios ((2.0-2.5) × 10-4 ) in this area are mainly attributed to the discrepancy of their different chemical behaviors in the ocean due to the relatively higher solubility of237 Np compared to particle active plutonium isotopes. It was estimated using two end members model that 23% ± 6% of transuranium radionuclides originated from the Pacific Proving Grounds tests, and the rest (ca. 77%) from global fallout., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2024
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