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A Study on the Measurement of Activity Concentrations of Pu and Am and Their Isotopic Ratios in the Radioactively Contaminated Soil  

Lee, Myung Ho (Nuclear Chemistry Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Song, Byoung Chul (Nuclear Chemistry Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Park, Young Jai (Nuclear Chemistry Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Kim, Won Ho (Nuclear Chemistry Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Publication Information
Analytical Science and Technology / v.17, no.6, 2004 , pp. 514-519 More about this Journal
Abstract
Soil samples collected from around the BOMARC Missile Site were measured for their activity concentrations and isotopic ratios of Pu and Am isotopes with particle sizes. The activity concentrations of Pu and Am in the BOMARC soil were remarkably higher than the fallout levels, and the activities decreased nearly exponentially with an increasing particle size of the soil due to a decreasing surface area. The activity ratios of Pu-238 / Pu-239, 240, Pu-241 / Pu-239, 240 and Am-241 / Pu-239, 240 observed in the BOMARC soil were much lower than those attributed to the nuclear reprocess plants and the Chernobyl fallout. Also, the atomic ratio of Pu-240 / Pu-239 in the BOMARC soil was remarkably lower than the fallout value influenced by the nuclear weapons testing and the Chernobyl accident. The atomic ratio of Pu-240 / Pu-239 was so close to the value of the weapons grade Pu released from the crash of a B52 plane in the Thule of the Greenland, such that the Pu isotopes detected in the BOMARC soil could have originated from the weapons grade plutonium.
Keywords
Pu and Am isotopes; Soil sample; Activity concentration ratio; Atomic ratio;
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