Plutonium Isotopes Concentration in Seawater along the Algerian Coast

Abstract

The International Atomic Energy Agency has organised in the framework of the regional project RAF/7/004, in collaboration with “Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique” (COMENA) and “Institut des Sciences de la Mer et de l'Aménagement du Littoral” (ISMAL), during August 2001, a scientific campaign along the Algerian coast, on board of the research vessel M.S. Benyahia of ISMAL is. Three stations, at the centre, east and west, were selected to collect five seawater samples for each water column reaching a maximum depth of 2000 m, using a stainless-steel water sampler of a volume of 250 litres. After recording the marine environment parameters (temperature and conductivity), seawater samples were conditioned and preconcentrated to precipitate plutonium isotopes usingMnCl2in the form ofMnO2in order to proceed to plutonium extraction by radiochemical separation and prepare the source by coprecipitation using neodymium fluoride (NdF3) by vacuum filtration and an evaluation of the activity by alpha spectrometry. Concentration results in units ofμBq/l of plutonium isotopes were obtained in the range of 6.7±1.00 to 25.5±3.70 forP239+240uand 0.21±0.04 to 0.77±0.15 forP238u. Distribution of Pu through the plot of its profile was studied and the concentration was estimated. The obtained results were compared toC137sand those found by other authors in the same Mediterranean area.

Establishing rapid analysis of Pu isotopes in seawater to study the impact of Fukushima nuclear accident in the Northwest Pacific

“…Among the specific reducing agents NH 3 OHCl, Na 2 SO 3 , K 2 S 2 O 5 and TiCl 3 28 – 30 , TiCl 3 was demonstrated having not only the ability of enhancing chemical recovery but also the advantage of being removed in the subsequent fluoride co-precipitation step 25 . As for the primary co-precipitation of Pu isotopes in seawater, MnO 2 and Fe(OH) 3 methods are frequently employed 25 , 28 , 29 . Compared to Fe(OH) 3 , which can be easily removed in the subsequent fluoride removal step, the removal of Mn from the final precipitates is somewhat more troublesome 25 , 31 .…”