Polonium, uranium and plutonium radionuclides in aquatic and land ecosystem of Poland

Abstract

This article presents the results of study about distribution, inflow and accumulation of polonium, uranium and plutonium in aquatic and land environment of Poland and the southern Baltic Sea. Radionuclides of ²¹⁰Po, ²³⁴U and ²³⁸U as well as ^239+240Pu and ²⁴¹Pu are strongly accumulated in Baltic organisms and plants and transferred through the trophic chain. The values of bioconcentration factor (BCF) in Baltic plants and animals are higher for polonium and plutonium in comparison with uranium. The principal source of radionuclides in the southern Baltic Sea is their inflow with rivers. Total annual runoff of polonium, uranium and plutonium from the Vistula and the Odra as well as the Pomeranian rivers were calculated at 95 GBq of ²¹⁰Po, 750 GBq of ^234+238U and 160 MBq of ^238+239+240Pu. Seasonal and spatial variability of ²¹⁰Po, ²³⁸U and ^239+240Pu levels in the Vistula and the Odra drainage basins were assessed by application of neural-network based classification, especially cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA) and self-organizing maps (SOM). The result for the Vistula river indicated correlation between polonium and plutonium as well as polonium and uranium. In the Odra drainage basin, the biggest differences were observed in the case of ²³⁸U. To assess if there are statistically significant differences in mean concentration values of ²¹⁰Po, ²³⁸U and ^239+240Pu for the Vistula and the Odra rivers drainage basins were obtained by used of the non-parametric tests. Comparing to the Vistula catchment area, statistically differences concentration of ²¹⁰Po and ^239+240Pu in all year was observed for river samples collected on the Odra drainage basin.

Keywords:

• Polonium ²¹⁰Po
• uranium ²³⁴U and ²³⁸U
• plutonium ^239+240Pu and ²⁴¹Pu
• inflow
• Vistula and Odra rivers
• accumulation
• organisms
• southern Baltic Sea

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the Polish Ministry of Higher Education and Sciences of the financial support of this work under grant 8120-4-0086-2.