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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Activating Molecules, Ions, and Solid Particles with Acoustic Cavitation
Published on: April 11, 2014
Source-term characterisation and solid speciation of plutonium at the Semipalatinsk NTS, Kazakhstan
H Jiménez Nápoles1, L León Vintró, P I Mitchell
1Department of Experimental Physics, University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Belfield 4.
Abstract:
New data on the concentrations of key fission/activation products and transuranium nuclides in samples of soil and water from the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site are presented and interpreted. Sampling was carried out at Ground Zero, Lake Balapan, the Tel'kem craters and reference locations within the test site boundary well removed from localised sources. Radionuclide ratios have been used to characterise the source term(s) at each of these sites. The geochemical partitioning of plutonium has also been examined and it is shown that the bulk of the plutonium contamination at most of the sites examined is in a highly refractory, non-labile form.
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