Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Plutonium concentration and 240Pu/239Pu isotopic ratio in the surface soils from the Jiuquan region in northwestern China

  • Published:
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Surface soil samples collected in the Jiuquan region in the downwind area of the Chinese nuclear test site (CNTs) were analyzed for Pu isotopes. The 239+240Pu activities ranged from 0.025 ± 0.009 to 0.89 ± 0.16 mBq g−1, varying significantly with different sampling sites. The Dunhuang city that is located in the southwestern part of the Jiuquan region received the heaviest Pu deposition (239+240Pu activities, 0.23–0.89 mBq g−1). Most of the 240Pu/239Pu isotopic ratios were similar with that of the global fallout. However, the low values (0.080–0.147) observed in three sampling sites further supported the finding of Pu originated from CNTs in that region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Oughton DH, Fifield LK, Day JP, Cresswell RC, Skipperud L, Di Tada ML, Salbu B, Strand P, Drozcho E, Mokrov Y (2000) Plutonium from Mayak: measurement of isotope ratios and activities using accelerator mass spectrometry. Environ Sci Technol 34:1938–1945

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bunzl K, Kracke W, Schimmack W (1995) Migration of fallout 239+240Pu, 241Am and 137Cs in the various horizons of a forest soil under pine. J Environ Radioact 28:17–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zheng J, Tagami K, Watanabe Y, Uchida S, Aono T, Ishii N, Yoshida S, Kubota Y, Fuma S, Ihara S (2012) Isotopic evidence of plutonium release into the environment from the Fukushima DNPP accident. Sci Rep 2:304. doi:10.1038/srep00304

    Google Scholar 

  4. UNSCEAR (2000) Source and effects of ionizing radiation. United National Scientific Committee on the effects of atomic radiation exposures to the public from man-made sources of radiation, United Nations, New York.

  5. Yamamoto M, Hoshi M, Takada J, Oikawa S, Yoshikawa I, Takatsuji T, Sekerbaev AK, Gusev BI (2002) Some aspects of environmental radioactivity around the former Soviet Union’s Semipalatinsk nuclear test site: local fallout Pu in Ust’-Kamenogorsk district. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 252:373–394

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Muramatsu Y, Hamilton T, Uchida S, Tagami K, Yoshida S, Robison W (2001) Measurement of 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios in soils from the Marshall Islands using ICP-MS. Sci Total Environ 278:151–159

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Turner M, Rudin M, Cizdziel J, Hodge V (2003) Excess plutonium in soil near the Nevada test site, USA. Environ Pollut 125:193–203

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bu W, Ni Y, Guo Q, Zheng J, Uchida S (2015) Pu isotopes in soils collected downwind from Lop Nor: regional fallout versus global fallout. Sci Rep 5:12262. doi:10.1038/srep12262

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ren T, Zhang S, Li Y, Zhong Z, Su Q, Xu C, Tang X (1998) Methodology of retrospective investigation on external dose of the downwind area in Jiuquan region. China Radiat Prot Dosim 77:25–28

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhang JJ, Wei JG, Zhou WL, Xu H (1988) Pu contamination in soils around the Xinjiang nuclear test site. Med Protect 8:50–52 (in Chinese)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Taylor RN, Warneke T, AndrewMilton J, Croudace IW, Warwick PE, Nesbitt RW (2001) Plutonium isotope ratio analysis at femtogram to nanogram levels by multicollector ICP-MS. J Anal At Spectrom 16:279–284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cizdziel JV, Ketterer ME, Farmer D, Faller SH, Hodge VF (2008) Resolving Nevada test site and global fallout plutonium in attic dust and soils using 137Cs/239+240Pu activity ratios. Health Phys 390:521–530

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kelley JM, Bond LA, Beasley TM (1999) Global distribution of Pu isotopes and 237Np. Sci Total Environ 273(278):483–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Dong W, Tims SG, Fifield LK, Guo QJ (2010) Concentration and characterization of plutonium in soils of Hubei in central China. J Environ Radioact 101:29–32

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Xu Y, Qiao J, Hou X, Pan S (2013) Plutonium in soils from northeast China and its potential application for evaluation of soil erosion. Sci Rep 3:3506. doi:10.1038/srep03506

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bu W, Zheng J, Guo Q, Uchida S (2014) Vertical distribution and migration of global fallout Pu in forest soils of southwestern China. J Environ Radioact 136:174–180

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Jin YR, Zhou GQ, Wang XH, Xia B, Li L, Wu JF, Li DM, Zhang LX (2003) Determination of plutonium in soil by ICP-MS after CCC preparation. Rel Technol 26:1593–1607

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Dong W, Yang Y, Guo Q (2010) Study on plutonium in terrestrial soil samples in China by AMS method. Radiat Prot 30:175–180 (in Chinese)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Zheng J, Yamada M, Wu F, Liao H (2009) Characterization of Pu concentration and its isotopic composition in soils of Gansu in northwestern China. J Environ Radioact 100:71–75

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Duan GY, Yue P, Liang P (2002) On the analysis of the climatic resources in Jiuquan area and its development. Gansu Meteorol 20:10–12 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mao XJ, Ren TS (1993) The study of radiation dose on human body. Atomic Energy Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  22. Bu W, Zheng J, Guo Q, Aono T, Tazoe H, Tagami K, Uchida S, Yamada M (2014) A method of measurement of 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu in high U content marine sediments by sector field ICP-MS and its application to Fukushima sediment samples. Environ Sci Technol 48:534–541

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Zheng J, Yamada M (2006) Inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry with a high-efficiency sample introduction system for the determination of Pu isotopes in settling particles at femtograms levels. Talanta 69:1246–1253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Muramatsu Y, Uchida S, Tagami K, Yoshida S, Fujikawa T (1999) Determination of plutonium concentration and its isotopic ratio in environmental materials by ICP-MS after separation using ion-exchange and extraction chromatography. J Anal At Spectrom 14:859–865

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ohtsuka Y, Takaku Y, Kimura J, Hisamatsu S, Inaba J (2005) Development of rapid plutonium analysis for environmental samples by isotope dilution/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with on-line column. Anal Sci 21:205–208

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Hrnecek E, Jakopic R, Wallner A, Steier P (2008) A combined method for the determination of the isotopic vector of plutonium isotopes in environmental samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 276:789–793

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kim CS, Kim CK, Lee JI, Lee KJ (2000) Simultaneous analysis of 237Np and Pu isotopes in environmental samples by ICP-SF-MS coupled with automated sequential injected system. J Anal At Spectrom 15:247–255

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Yang G, Zheng J, Tagami K, Uchida S (2015) Plutonium concentration and isotopic ratio in soil samples from central-eastern Japan collected around the 1970s. Sci Rep 5:9636. doi:10.1038/srep09636

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Corcho Alvarado JA, Steinmann P, Estier S, Bochud F, Haldimann M, Froidevaux P (2014) Anthropogenic radionuclides in atmospheric air over Switzerland during the last few decades. Nat Commun 5:3030. doi:10.1038/ncomms4030

    Google Scholar 

  30. Liao H, Bu W, Zheng J, Wu F, Yamada M (2014) Vertical distributions of radionuclides (239+240Pu, 240Pu/239Pu, and 137Cs) in sediment cores of Lake Bosten in northwestern China. Environ Sci Technol 48:3840–3846

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Leifer R, Toonkel L (1981) Plutonium isotopic analysis of stratospheric samples from April 1977, Environmental Measurement Laboratory, Report EML-390: 1–407.

  32. Wu F, Zheng J, Liao H, Yamada M (2010) Vertical distributions of plutonium and 137Cs in lacustrine sediments in northwestern China: quantifying sediment accumulation rates and source identifications. Environ Sci Technol 44:2911–2917

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11275015) and partly supported by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (METI), Japan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China

    Wenting Bu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Qiuju Guo

  3. Biospheric Assessment for Waste Disposal Team & Fukushima Project Headquarters, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Anagawa 4-9-1, Inage, Chiba, 263-8555, Japan

    Jian Zheng & Shigeo Uchida

Authors
  1. Wenting Bu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qiuju Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jian Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shigeo Uchida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qiuju Guo or Jian Zheng.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bu, W., Guo, Q., Zheng, J. et al. Plutonium concentration and 240Pu/239Pu isotopic ratio in the surface soils from the Jiuquan region in northwestern China. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 311, 999–1005 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5002-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5002-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation