Abstract
Soil samples collected mainly from the southern areas, including Kainar and Karaul settlements, around the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site of the former USSR were analyzed for 137Cs and Pu isotopes (238Pu,239Pu and 240Pu) by γ-ray and α-ray spectrometry and ICP-MS. The 137Cs inventories varied widely from 170 to 13,600 Bq/m2. The 239,240Pu inventories, values of which are scare in the literature, also varied in the range of 34-2,050 Bq/m2 (most of date being 100-300 Bq/m2). In the areas around Tailan, Sarzal and Karaul settlements where the radioactive cloud related to the first thermonuclear explosion passed through, higher inventories of these nuclides were observed and especially their 238Pu/239,240Pu activity ratios (0.0064-0.0076) were markedly lower than those attributed to global fallout (0.03-0.04). The observed ratios might be used as a fingerprint to identify the Pu source of the first thermonuclear event. Most of the 240Pu/239Pu atomic ratios were lower than those of global fallout (0.18) commonly accepted. The contribution of local fallout 239,240Pu was higher (more than 80-90%) in the areas around the Tailan, Sarzal and Karaul settlements than that (30-ca. 60%) in the other areas. This high Pu contribution was related to the Pu source from the first thermonuclear event.
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