Combined, sequential procedure for determination of 137Cs, 40K, 63Ni, 90Sr, 230,232Th, 234,238U, 237Np, 238,239+240Pu and 241Am applied for study on contamination of soils near Żarnowiec Lake (northern Poland)

Jerzy W Mietelski; Renata Kierepko; Edyta Łokas; Anna Cwanek; Krzysztof Kleszcz; Ewa Tomankiewicz; Tomasz Mróz; Robert Anczkiewicz; Mirosław Szałkowski; Bogdan Wąs; Mirosław Bartyzel; Ryszard Misiak

doi:10.1007/s10967-016-4835-0

Combined, sequential procedure for determination of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁴⁰K, ⁶³Ni, ⁹⁰Sr, ^230,232Th, ^234,238U, ²³⁷Np, ^238,239+240Pu and ²⁴¹Am applied for study on contamination of soils near Żarnowiec Lake (northern Poland)

J Radioanal Nucl Chem. 2016;310(2):661-670. doi: 10.1007/s10967-016-4835-0. Epub 2016 Apr 28.

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland.
² State Higher Vocational School in Tarnow, Tarnow, Poland.
³ Pedagogical University of Krakow, Krakow, Poland.
⁴ Institute of Geological Sciences (ING), Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland.

Abstract

The paper summarizes results of investigation of the current state of radioactive contamination on site being under consideration for planned nuclear power plant in northern Poland. Thanks to use of sequential procedure it was possible to determine activity concentrations for radioisotopes of nine elements, both natural and artificial. Results show that observed levels of radioactive contamination are rather typical for central Europe and global fallout is dominant factor of presence of artificial radionuclides. The total deposition for artificial radionuclides revealed maxima equal to 1747 ± 121 Bq/m² for ¹³⁷Cs, 3854 ± 158 Bq/m² for ⁹⁰Sr, 101 ± 23 mBq/m² for ²³⁷Np, 57.7 ± 6.0 Bq/m² for ²⁴¹Am, 3.27 ± 0.80 Bq/m² for ²³⁸Pu and 68.5 ± 5.0 Bq/m² for ^239+240Pu.

Keywords: 237Np; 63Ni; Actinides in soil; Environmental radioactivity; Plutonium; Polish nuclear power plant to be; Radiochemical sequential procedure.