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Report No.
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Distribution and settling behavior of americium-241 in the tropical East Pacific

Kinoshita, Norikazu*; Nagaoka, Mika  

The distribution of the anthropogenic radionuclide americium-241 ($$^{241}$$Am), a decay product of $$^{241}$$Pu discharged from atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons, was investigated to resolve its horizontal and vertical migration in the Tropical East Pacific. We analyzed $$^{241}$$Am concentrations in seawater samples collected in 2003. On comparing the $$^{241}$$Am concentrations with the previously determined concentrations of $$^{239+240}$$Pu in the same samples, the vertical profiles of $$^{241}$$Am were found to be similar to those of $$^{239+240}$$Pu. At some stations, the maximum concentration of $$^{241}$$Am occurred 100-200 m deeper than that of $$^{239+240}$$Pu. In addition, the $$^{241}$$Am vertical profile was explained by using a box model that considers the decay of $$^{241}$$Pu and adsorption and scavenging by suspended particles and the residence time of $$^{241}$$Am in the Pacific was also estimated by using the model.

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