Deposition of artificial radionuclides from atmospheric Nuclear Weapon Tests estimated by soil inventories in French areas low-impacted by Chernobyl

Title: Deposition of artificial radionuclides from atmospheric Nuclear Weapon Tests estimated by soil inventories in French areas low-impacted by Chernobyl

Author: Le Roux, Gaël / Duffa, Céline / Vray, Françoise / Renaud, Philippe

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 101 (3), p.211-218, Mar 2010

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2009.10.010

Keywords: Atmospheric deposition; ¹³⁷Cs; Plutonium; Americium; Nuclear Weapon Tests; France

Abstract: Soil inventories of anthropogenic radionuclides were investigated in altitudinal transects in 2 French regions, Savoie and Montagne Noire. Rain was negligible in these 2 areas the days after the Chernobyl accident. Thus anthropogenic radionuclides are coming hypothetically only from Global Fallout following Atmospheric Nuclear Weapon Tests. This is confirmed by the isotopic signatures (²³⁸Pu/^239+240Pu; ¹³⁷Cs/^239+240Pu; and ²⁴¹Am/^239+240Pu) close to Global Fallout value. In Savoie, a peat core age-dated by ²¹⁰Pb_ex confirmed that the main part of deposition of anthropogenic radionuclides occurred during the late sixties and the early seventies. In agreement with previous studies, the anthropogenic radionuclide inventories are well correlated with the annual precipitations. However, this is the first time that a study investigates such a large panel of annual precipitation and therefore of anthropogenic radionuclide deposition. It seems that at high-altitude sites, deposition of artificial radionuclides was higher possibly due to orographic precipitations.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X09002434