Plutonium anomaly in nature.

Abstract

The 239Pu/238U ratios are reexamined in volcanic ashes and rock, uranium mineral and other contemporary terrestrial samples and also in the atmospheric samples. This ratio in rain samples collected at Fayetteville (36°N, 94°W), Arkansas, reaches up to 10' (atom/atom), which is about 2 orders of magnitude higher than those of volcanic ashes and rock and about five or six orders of magnitude higher than the 239Pu/238U ratio of 10-12 (atom/atom) typical of uranium minerals. The data obtained from our measurements indicate that the high 239Pu/238U ratios observed in this contemporary terrestrial samples are due to fallout contaminations.

The origin of plutonium in the atmosphere.

“…These results indicate that the abnor tional 101 samples of rain and snow collected mally high Pu/U ratios reported for the volcanic at Fayetteville during the period from January samples are most likely due to radioactive 1981 through April 1983. The plutonium data fallout contamination (Fried et al, 1985;Sandoval et al, 1985;Essien and Kuroda, 1985). This means that the surface of the entire earth is contaminated with `man-made' plutonium and, whenever a major volcanic eruption occurs, a large quantity of plutonium together with uranium is blown up into the troposphere and the stratosphere resulting in a world-wide fallout of plutonium.…”