Plutonium isotopes in Northern Xinjiang, China: Level, distribution, sources and their contributions

Plutonium in the environment has drawn significant attentions due to its radiotoxicity in high concentration and source term linked with nuclear accidents and contaminations. The isotopic ratio of plutonium is source dependent and can be used as a fingerprint to discriminate the sources of radioactive , Pu-239, Pu-240 contaminant. and Cs-137 in surface soil and soil cores collected from Northern Xinjiang were determined in this work. The concentrations of Pu-239,Pu-240 and Cs-137 are in the range of 0.06-1.20 Bq kg(-1), and