Anthropogenic plutonium-244 in the environment: Insights into plutonium's longest-lived isotope.

ABSTRACT: Owing to the rich history of heavy element production in the unique high flux reactors that operated at the Savannah River Site, USA (SRS) decades ago, trace quantities of plutonium with highly unique isotopic characteristics still persist today in the SRS terrestrial environment. Development of an effective sampling, processing, and analysis strategy enables detailed monitoring of the SRS environment, revealing plutonium isotopic compositions, e.g., (244)Pu, that reflect the unique legacy of plutonium production at SRS. This work describes the first long-term investigation of anthropogenic (244)Pu occurrence in the environment. Environmental samples, consisting of collected foot borne debris, were taken at SRS over an eleven year period, from 2003 to 2014. Separation and purification of t

SUBMITTER: Armstrong CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4761908 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature