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Distribution and Characterization of Plutonium in Soils from Nevada Test Site¹

ABSTRACT

Three surface soil samples, contaminated with plutonium by high explosive detonations of subcritical atomic devices at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), were analyzed for total plutonium content, plutonium distribution in different particle sizes, and leachability by HNO₃. Total plutonium averaged about 2,640 disintegrations per minute (dpm) per gram of soil. The highest concentration of plutonium in two samples taken from the same area was in the very fine sand (125-53 µm) fraction (38 and 47%); the third sample from another test area contained the highest concentration in the coarse silt (53-20 µm) fraction (47%).

Leaching with 8M HNO₃ revealed that the extracted plutonium was related to the amount of plutonium associated with the finer sizes of soil particles. The highest extraction of 91% was associated with the sample containing 99% of the plutonium in particles < 125 µm; the lowest extraction (65%) with the lowest amount (55%) in the same size fractions. Density gradient separation of a silt and a clay fraction revealed that the plutonium in the silt size was associated with particles whose density was > 2.8 g/cm³; in the clay size the plutonium was associated with particles < 2.2 g/cm³.

Key Words: concentration factor • soil contamination • plutonium analysis • leachability

¹ Contribution from the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission under contract with Union Carbide Corporation. Publication No. 634, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.

² Senior Research Adviser, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Received for publication August 12, 1974.