Publications
U-236/U-238 and Pu-240/Pu-239 isotopic ratios in small (2 L) sea and river water samples
- Author(s)
- R. Eigl, M. Srncik, P. Steier, Gabriele Wallner
- Abstract
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and alpha spectrometry were used to determine uranium (236U, 238U, 234U) and plutonium isotopes (239Pu, 240Pu) in sea and river water samples. Plutonium was separated by Dowex® 1 × 8 resin and UTEVA® resin was used for uranium purification. The measured 236U/238U isotopic ratios for surface water from the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Black Sea were in the order of 10−9, while values for river water were in the order of 10−8.
These contaminations may be attributed to global fallout. A sample of
the reference material IAEA-443, collected from the Irish Sea, showed,
in accordance to the reference value, a ratio that was 103 times higher due to effluents from the reprocessing plant at Sellafield. These results underline the good suitability of 236U/238U
as a tracer for hydrology and oceanography, and show that relatively
small water samples are sufficient for the determination of 236U
by AMS, which is not the case for plutonium with present techniques.
The plutonium concentrations in our water samples could only be measured
with large uncertainties and were in the order of 10−3 mBq/L (with the exception of the Irish Sea sample).
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Isotope Physics
- Journal
- Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
- Volume
- 116
- Pages
- 54-58
- No. of pages
- 5
- ISSN
- 0265-931X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2012.09.013
- Publication date
- 02-2013
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 1030 Physics, Astronomy, 103031 Radiation protection, 104020 Radiochemistry, 103005 Atomic physics
- Keywords
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/e2ecdd57-88aa-41e7-9e64-ee346faed26e