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Source attribution of Pu deposited on natural surface soils

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Abstract

Plutonium (Pu) concentrations and atom ratios were determined in soil samples collected in Norway in 1990 and 2005. Samples were collected from areas exclusively affected by global fallout, as well as areas affected by both global fallout and fallout from the Chernobyl accident. Pu isotope ratios were largely within the global fallout range (0.182 ± 0.005); however, at some sites the atom ratios indicated influence from the Chernobyl accident.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project number 421048. We are indebted to Signe Dahl for kind assistance with the layout. Keith Fifield, Stephen G. Tims and Deborah Oughton for AMS beam time and assistance with the analysis of heavier Pu isotopes in the humic surface soil samples. Finally, we would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for carefully reading the manuscript and suggesting valuable improvements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, CERAD CoE, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway

    C. C. Wendel, L. Skipperud, O. C. Lind & B. Salbu

  2. Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    E. Steinnes & S. Lierhagen

Authors
  1. C. C. Wendel
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  2. L. Skipperud
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  3. O. C. Lind
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  4. E. Steinnes
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  5. S. Lierhagen
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  6. B. Salbu
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Correspondence to C. C. Wendel.

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Wendel, C.C., Skipperud, L., Lind, O.C. et al. Source attribution of Pu deposited on natural surface soils. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 304, 1243–1252 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3963-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3963-2

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