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MS: Fachverband Massenspektrometrie

MS 9: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and Applications II

MS 9.2: Talk

Thursday, March 3, 2016, 15:00–15:15, f128

Detection of Pu in Pacific Ocean water with AMS related to the Fukushima accident — •Karin Hain¹, Thomas Faestermann¹, Leticia Fimiani¹, Robin Golser², José Manuel Guzmán¹, Gunther Korschinek¹, Florian Kortmann¹, Christoph Lierse v. Gostomski¹, Peter Ludwig¹, Peter Steier², and Masatoshi Yamada³ — ¹TUM, Germany — ²Universität Wien, Austria — ³Hirosaki University, Japan

The concentration of plutonium (Pu) and its isotopic ratios were determined by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in Pacific Ocean water samples. The isotopic ratios ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu and ²⁴¹Pu/²³⁹Pu can be used to identify a possible release of Pu into the ocean by the Fukushima accident. ²⁴¹Pu from fallout of nuclear weapon testings has already significantly decayed. ²⁴¹Am, the daughter nuclide of ²⁴¹Pu, causes isobaric background on ²⁴¹Pu in mass-spectrometric measurements. Therefore, Am and Pu had to be separated chemically using extraction chromatography. The method was verified by analyzing certified reference material. 12 sea water samples, collected at different depths, were prepared at the Radiochemie München. The concentration of Pu was measured with AMS at the Maier-Leibnitz-Laboratory in Munich and the Vienna Environmental Research Laboratory (VERA). After a short motivation related to the Fukushima accident, the chemical separation method will be presented. Preliminary results of the distribution of Pu in ocean water will be discussed. This work was funded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. We would like to acknowledge the valuable support of T. Shinonaga.