New data are presented which highlight to the behaviour of Pu upon discharge into the open sea from nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield and Cap La Hague and Sellafield. Specifically, certain physico-chemical characteristics of Pu in sea water and sea-bed sediments are shown to be independent of both the source and near-field environmental conditions. For example, in filtered sea water the discharge-normalized Pu concentrations are similar at both sites (ca. 20-40μΒςΓ' per GBq discharged). The oxidation state distribution of Pu is also similar, with Pu(V,VI) predominating. A significant fraction of the Pu(III,IV) present in filtered water is associated with > 1 kDa colloids. In each zone, tide energy would appear to control the long-range dispersion of Pu in both the filtered and particulate fractions.
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