237Pu in monitoring plutonium recovery on isolation from environmental samples

Gamma-emitting 237Pu has been used as tracer in isolating traces of plutonium from soil (T/sub 1/2/ - 45.5 d, E/sub γ/ = 59.5 keV (3.3%), x rays 97.1 keV (13.7%), 101.1 keV (21.8%), etc.). A difference from the traditional 237Pu can be tracked during chemical separation with a semiconductor gamma detector, so one can identify the stages where the main plutonium losses occur, which is particularly important for new methods and in analyzing a range of samples