On peculiarities of vertical distribution of 239,240Pu, 238Pu and 137Cs activity concentrations and their ratios in lake sediments and soils

Distributions of 239,240Pu, 238Pu and 137Cs activity concentrations in the cores of sediments in the shallow lake, flooded and upland forest soils taken in the vicinity of Vilnius city were analyzed. The radiochemical, α-spectrometric and mass spectrometric methods were used for the plutonium evaluation and γ-spectrometry was used for the radiocesium evaluation. The only peak of enhanced radionuclide activity concentrations was determined for the lake bottom sediments, whereas vertical profiles of the radionuclide activity concentrations in flooded and upland forest soil cores were distinguished by two peaks. The obtained values of the activity concentration ratio 238Pu/239,240Pu and the isotopic ratio 240Pu/239Pu indicated that the global fallout was a source of plutonium in the investigated environment. Chernobyl-derived radiocesium was detected solely in the surface layers (2-11 cm) of the studied sample cores. The contribution of the Chernobyl deposits amounted to about 2.26, 6.11 and 20.9 % of the total radiocesium inventory in the bottom sediments, the upland soil and flooded soil, respectively. (author)