Measurement of 239Pu in soil and plants in the Nishiyama District of Nagasaki

Nishiyama district in Nagasaki is located approximately 3000 m east of the hypocenter of the atomic bomb that was dropped on 9 August 1945. This district is also known as an area where there was a concentrated radioactive fallout with the black rain that was carried by a westerly wind. The Nagasaki atomic bomb was a Pu bomb, and the fallout must have included 239Pu without fission in addition to fission products. The presence of 239Pu in Nishiyama district has been confirmed previously. In this study, the distribution of 239 + 240Pu concentration in the uncultivated soil and the transfer factor of 239 + 240Pu to agricultural products in Nishiyama district were examined. The concentration of 239 + 240Pu in the uncultivated soil was 20 Bq kg-1, which was approximately eight times as high as that in the control districts. The transfer factor of 239 + 240Pu to agricultural products was 10(-4) - 10(-3), which was 1/100-1/200 of that of 137Cs