Level, distribution and sources of plutonium in the northeast and north China

Weichao Zhang; Xiaolin Hou; Haitao Zhang; Yanyun Wang; Haijun Dang; Shan Xing; Ning Chen

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117967

Level, distribution and sources of plutonium in the northeast and north China

Environ Pollut. 2021 Nov 15:289:117967. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117967. Epub 2021 Aug 13.

Authors

Weichao Zhang¹, Xiaolin Hou², Haitao Zhang³, Yanyun Wang⁴, Haijun Dang³, Shan Xing⁴, Ning Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China; Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, Xi'an, 710024, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China; Technical University of Denmark, Department of Environmental Engineering, Risø Campus, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark; CAS Center of Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Xi'an, 710061, China; Open Studio for Oceanic-Continental Climate and Environment Changes, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao, 266061, China. Electronic address: xiho@env.dtu.dk.
³ Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, Xi'an, 710024, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Technology and Application, Xi'an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China.

PMID: 34426197
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117967

Abstract

Concentrations of ²³⁹Pu and ²⁴⁰Pu in 163 surface soil samples and five soil cores collected from the northeast and north China were analyzed using the radiochemical separation combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry measurement. The average ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu atomic ratios (0.185 ± 0.018) for all surface soil samples indicated that the global fallout is the major source of plutonium in the studied region. The ^239,240Pu concentrations of the surface soil ranged from 0.002 mBq/g to 4.82 mBq/g, lying in the range of the reported results in the areas with similar latitude, except for a few samples. The distribution of ^239,240Pu in this region is controlled by the deposition of plutonium in the atmosphere and its preservation in the soil, which were affects by multi-factors such as topography, climate, utilization of the land and vegetation coverage. The analytical results could be used as the baseline data for the assessment of the impact of nuclear activities in the past and the future.

Keywords: Distribution; Environmental radioactivity; Northeast and north China; Plutonium isotopes; Sources.

MeSH terms

China
Plutonium* / analysis
Radiation Monitoring*
Radioactive Fallout* / analysis
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive* / analysis

Substances

Radioactive Fallout
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
Plutonium