Plutonium in intertidal coastal and estuarine sediments in the Northern Irish Sea

Abstract

Surface intertidal sediments from 35 sites in the Irish Sea have been analysed for their 238Pu and 239,240Pu activities, together with an intensive study of plutonium in sediments of the Esk Estuary (NW England). The range of plutonium activities for the whole survey were 0·14–4118 and 1·3–16 026 Bq kg −1 for 238Pu and 239,240Pu, respectively. The levels of Pu activity, derived from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing effluents, in sediments are controlled by lithological factors and the influence of transport and post-depositional processes. Grain size distribution is particularly important, the major part of plutonium activity being in the mud fraction of all sediments. The data suggest that over the Irish Sea coastline, dynamic mixing of sediment grains by reworking and resuspension and/or by dispersion in tidal currents are important in determining plutonium distributions. The exponential decrease in sediment plutonium activities away from the Sellafield source is attributed to the progressive mixing with older contaminated and uncontaminated sediments.