AMS of the Minor Plutonium Isotopes

VERA, the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator, is especially equipped for the measurement of actinides, and performs a growing number of measurements on enironmental samples. While AMS is not the optimum mehtod for each plutonium isotope, the possibility to measure 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, 242Pu and 244Pu on the same AMS sputter target is a great simplification. We have obtained a first result on the global fallout leven of 244Pu/239Pu = (5.7+/- 1.0)x10-5 based on soil samples from Salzburg prefecture, Austria. Furthermore, we suggest to use the 242Pu/240Pu ratio as an estimate for the initial 241Pu/239Pu ratio, which allows to date the time of irradation based solely on Pu isotopes. We have checked the validity of this estimate for literature data, simulations, and for environmental samples from soil from the Salzburg prefecture (Austria), from the shut down Garigliano Nuclear Power Plant (Sessa Aurunca, Italy) and from the Irish Sea ner the Sellafield nuclear facility. The maximum deviation of the obtained dates is 6 years, while relative dating of material from hte same source seems to be possible with a precision of less than two years. Additional information carried by the minor plutonium isotopes may allow to improve the precision of the method further.

STEIER P.;  HRNECEK Erich;  PRILLER Alfred;  QUINTO Francesca;  SRNCIK M.;  WALLNER A.;  WALLNER G.;  WINKLER Stephan; 

2013-01-08

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC65743

0168-583X,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC65743,   

10.1016/j.nimb.2012.06.017,