Plutonium, cesium, uranium, and thorium series radionuclides in the Hudson River estuary and other environments. Annual technical progress report, December 1, 1982-November 30, 1983

We have measured radionuclide activities in a large number of sediment cores and suspended particle samples throughout the salinity range of the Hudson River estuary. Activities of 137Cs, 134Cs and 60Co determined by gamma spectrometry and 239240Pu and 238Pu determined by alpha spectrometry indicate reasonably rapid accumulation rates in the sediments of marginal cove areas, and very rapid deposition in the harbor region adjacent to New York City, resulting in 239240Pu accumulations there more than an order of magnitude greater than the fallout delivery rate. Fallout 239240Pu moving downstream in the Hudson appears to be almost completely retained within the system by particle deposition, while more than 50% of the 137Cs derived from both reactor releases and fallout has been exported from the tidal Hudson to coastal waters. Measurements of fallout 239240 Pu in a saline lake with a high carbonate ion concentration yielded water column activities about two orders of magnitude greater than has been found for fallout plutonium in other continental waters, indicating extensive mobility in some natural water environments. Experiments using lake water suggest that carbonate ion is likely to be a critical factor in regulating plutonium solubility in some environments and that low molecular weight complexes are primarily responsible for enhanced plutonium solubility. 5 references