Radiation biology. Radioecology
ISSN: 0869-8031

Archives → 2020 → V. 60. № 2. → pp. 211–221

Article

Modern Levels of Long-lived Radioisotopes of Plutonium in Bottom Sediments of Salt Lakes of the Crimea

N. N. Tereshchenko^a, A. V. Trapeznikov^b, A. A. Paraskiv^a, V. Yu. Proskurnin^a, and A. P. Plataev^b

^aFederal Research Center “A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of Southern Seas of RAS”, Sevastopol, Russia. ^bInstitute of Plant and Animal Ecology of RAS, Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Abstract

Data on the plutonium alpha-emitting radioisotopes levels in the surface bottom sediments of ten salt lakes of the Crimea from different geographical groups are presented. Profiles of the vertical distribution of these radioisotopes in the cores of bottom sediments to a depth of 25–30 cm in lakes from these groups of balneary mud resources of the Crimean lakes were obtained. The highest values were noted in the 10–15 cm layer in the Lake Sasyk-Sivash (2 Bq/kg). The plutonium radioisotopes 239,240Pu activity concentration in the water of these reservoirs was 6.6–16.5 mBq/m3. On the example of two lakes, it is shown that bottom sediments are characterized by high accumulative ability for plutonium radioisotopes. The ^239,240Pu concentration factor of bottom sediment reached values of the order of n × 104 kg/kg. The main amount of plutonium in the bottom sediments of the investigated lakes was represented by plutonium radioisotopes of global origin.

Keywords

salt lakes of Crimea, plutonium radioisotopes – 238,239,240Pu, bottom sediments, water, concentration factor, accident on the Chernobyl NPP, radioactive global fallout