Plutonium inventories in two old-field ecosystems in8the vicinity of a nuclear-fuel reprocessing facility
- Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC
Plutonium inventories were determined in two old-field ecosystems, Fields 1 and 2, located near a nuclear-fuel reprocessing facility that had released approximately 640 mCi (24 GBq) /sup 238/Pu and 570 mCi (21 GBq) /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu to the atmosphere in the 20 yr preceding sampling. Field 1 was 230 m from the point of release (a 62-m stack) and contained 57 nCi (2.1 kBq) /sup 238/Pu/m/sup 2/ and 255 nCi (9.4 kBq) /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu/m/sup 2/. Field 2 was 420 m from the stack and contained 15 nCi (0.56 kBq) /sup 238/Pu/m/sup 2/ and 79 nCi (2.9 kBq) /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu/m/sup 2/. The distribution of Pu between soil and vegetation components was similar in the two fields with only 1.3% of the /sup 238/Pu and 0.2% of the /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu occurring in pines, herbaceous vegetation and litter. More of the Pu could be suspended from the soil into the atmosphere by a 6 m/s wind on Field 1 than on Field 2 due to the lower biomass of herbaceous vegetation and litter on Field 1. Approximately 2% of the /sup 238/Pu and 0.5% of the /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu could be resuspended on Field 1, whereas only 0.5% of the /sup 238/Pu and 0.1% of the /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu could be resuspended on Field 2. Plutonium contamination of the vegetation occurred primarily by (1) direct deposition of recently released Pu onto vegetation, and (2) resuspension of Pu from the soil to vegetation surfaces. Root uptake apparently made negligble contributions to the Pu contents of above-ground vegetation.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC
- DOE Contract Number:
- EY-76-C-09-0819
- OSTI ID:
- 6669696
- Journal Information:
- Ecology; (United States), Journal Name: Ecology; (United States) Vol. 60:6; ISSN ECOLA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
053000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
510300* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CONTAMINATION
ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
PARTICLE RESUSPENSION
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 240
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
SURFACE CONTAMINATION
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES