THE DETERMINATION OF PU AND AM IN VEGETATION FROM THE RIBBLE ESTUARY

摘要

Plant material (mainly grasses) was collected from areas bordering the Ribble Estuary in the north-west of England. The Springfields nuclear fuel plant operated by BNFL discharges directly into this estuary and the estuary is some 40 km south of the Sellafield nuclear processing plant, also operated by BNFL. Both of these plants are potential sources of the transuranic element plutonium and the Sellafield plant is a potential source of americium. These elements are both alpha emitters and potentially highly toxic, especially if they are incorporated into the plant food eaten by animals that are subsequently eaten by man. About 1 kg of plant material was collected form a number of sites along the estuary. Each sample was freeze-dried and then reduced to a powder in a ball mill. Three samples of about 5 g were then statistically removed from the bulk material from each side for radiochemical analysis.