Distribution of artificial radionuclides in lacustrine sediments in China

Establishing accurate historical records of the distribution, inventory and source of artificial radionuclides in the environment is important for environmental monitoring and radiological health protection due to their potential toxicity, and is also useful for identification and risk assessment of possible future environmental inputs of radionuclides from nuclear weapons tests and accidental release from the nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities or nuclear power reactors. A sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer was used to study the recent sedimentation of Pu isotopes in 11 lakes in China. The distribution of (137)Cs was investigated using the conventional radiometric analytical methods. Based on the isotopic compositions of Pu and the activity ratio of (137)Cs/(239+240)Pu, the sources of artificial radionuclides were identified. The potential applications of Pu isotopes for sediment dating and for regional and global environmental change studies were discussed.