Concentration and characterization of plutonium in soils of Hubei in central China

To study the Pu concentration and isotope ratio distributions present in China, the 239+240Pu total activities and 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios in core soil samples from Hubei Province in central China were investigated using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The activities ranged from 0.019 to 0.502 mBq g−1 and the 239+240Pu inventories of 45 and ∼55 Bq m−2 agree well with that expected from global fallout. The 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios in the soil ranged from 0.172 to 0.220. The ratios are similar to typical global fallout values. Hence, any close-in fallout contribution from the Chinese nuclear weapons tests, mainly conducted in the 1970s, must have either been negligible or had a similar 240Pu/239Pu ratio to that of global fallout. The top 10 cm layer of the soil contributes ∼90% of the total inventory and the maximum concentrations appeared in the 2–4 cm or 4–6 cm layers. It is suggested that climatic conditions and organic content are the two main factors that affect the vertical migration of plutonium in soil.