Abstract
The results of measurements of the isotopic atomic ratios238Pu/239Pu,240Pu/239Pu,241Pu/239Pu,242Pu/239Pu in samples of bottom deposits are presented. The role of the main sources of plutonium contamination of the region is examined. It is shown that the contribution of the α activity of industrial plutonium (238–240Pu) in bottom sediments from the European reprocessing plants, mainly, Sellafield (Great Britain), on the background due to global fallouts is 20 to 55% of the total α activity and 70–95% for the β activity (241Pu). No escape of reactor and weapons plutonium from the nuclear powered submarine “Komsomolets” into the environment was observed. The lower limit of sensitivity of the method is 10−14g of plutonium in a sample, which corresponds to a plutonium α activity of 0.02 mBq in a 10 g sample of bottom deposits, 4 tables, 26 references.
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 87, No. 4, pp. 286–294. October, 1999.
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Stepanov, A.V., Tsvetkov, O.S., Tishkov, V.P. et al. Isotopic composition of plutonium in the bottom deposits of the Norwegian Sea and Greenland Sea and identification of the sources of contaminationhearder. At Energy 87, 745–752 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02673264
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02673264