A Comparison of the Distribution of Industrially Released ²³⁸Pu and Fallout ^239,240Pu in Temperate, Northern United States Soils

Abstract

Studies of 238Pu dispersed from the stack of a nuclear fabrication facility in southwestern Ohio indicate that the predominant deposition occurs within 8 km of the site. Plutonium‐238 from this source exhibits the same relative solubility as 239,240Pu from fallout. Both 238Pu from the facility and 239,240Pu from fallout move downward through the soil column, but 238Pu appears to have moved more slowly. Reasons for this apparent differential behavior are explored.

Anthropogenic radionuclide emissions into the environment

“…The residence time of the relatively long-lived fission isotopes 137Cs and 9~ (tu2 of both isotopes ~30 years) as well as of the actinides in the topsoil layers are in the order of tens of years (Hardy 1974;Alberts et al 1980;Hodge et al 1996) such that up to now some 100 000 people still cannot return into their original domiciles, although intensive decontamination attempts were performed to remediate the most affected regions. Typical soil surface contamination in the 30 km zone around the reactor and, for comparison, in considerably less affected areas such as western Europe are additionally listed in Table 1.…”

Plutonium in the WIPP environment: its detection, distribution and behavior

“…The range of 239+240 Pu in the Near Field soil is lower than background concentrations found at Hueston Woods and Urbana, Ohio (0.7-1.0 Bq kg À1 ), 41 and those found between Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs, Colorado (0.6 to 1.7 Bq kg À1 ). 22 The 239+240 Pu concentrations in the WIPP vicinity are also lower than those found in the background soil at Rocky Flats, Colorado, control (0.4-2.0 Bq kg À1 ) and at Hanford, Washington (0.3 Bq kg À1 ).…”