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Updated: Jun 15, 2025

Speciation and Bioavailability Measurements of Environmental Plutonium Using Diffusion in Thin Films
Published on: November 9, 2015
Plutonium in the coastal seawater around Chinese nuclear power plants: Sources, distribution, and environmental
Sixuan Li1, Youyi Ni2, Qiuju Guo1
1State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Abstract:
Coastal surface seawater samples within 30 km around ten Chinese nuclear power plants (NPPs) were systematically investigated. The 239+240Pu activity concentration in the samples varied from 0.226 mBq/m3 to 3.098 mBq/m3, meanwhile the 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios ranged from 0.151 to 0.353. Besides, the Pacific Proving Ground (PPG) close-in fallout and the global fallout were recognized as two primary sources of Pu in these samples. The 239+240Pu activity concentration as well as the PPG contribution showed similar trends as the Kuroshio intrusion path and the coastal currents in the China Seas, illustrating long-range transport and consuming of PPG derived Pu in the coastal China Seas. Moreover, accumulation of PPG sourced Pu in the Beibu Gulf were observed and was attributed to the continuous invasion of the high isotopic Pu that remobilized from the South China Sea (SCS).
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