Plutonium fractionation in southern Baltic Sea sediments.

In this study, different chemical plutonium fractions (dissolved in water, connected to carbonates, connected to oxides, complexed with organic matter, mineral acids soluble and the rest) in sediments from the Vistula River estuary, the Gdańsk Basin and the Bornholm Deep were determined. The distribution of (239+240)Pu in analysed sediments samples was not uniform but dependent on its chemical form, depth and the sediment geomorphology. The highest amount of plutonium exists in middle parts of sediments and comes from the global atmospheric fallout from nuclear tests in 1958-1961. According to all analysed fractions, the biggest amount of (239+240)Pu was in the mobile form, connected to carbonate fractions from the Vistula River estuary, the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Bornholm Deep sediments.