Sorption of actinides, particularly plutonium, onto submicrometer-sized colloids increases their mobility, but these plutonium colloids are difficult to detect in the far-field. Actinides were identified on colloids in the groundwater from the Mayak Production Association, Urals, Russia; at the source, the plutonium activity is 1000 becquerels per liter. Plutonium activities are still 0.16 becquerels per liter at a distance of 3 kilometers, where 70 to 90 mole percent of the plutonium is sorbed onto colloids, confirming that colloids are responsible for the long-distance transport of plutonium. Link leads to abstract only. The full article can be purchased from AAAS.

Citation: Novikov, A.P., Kalmykov, S.N., Utsunomiya, S., Ewing, R.C., Horreard, F., Merkulov, A., Clark, S.B., Tkachev, V., and Myasoedovm, B.F. "Colloid Transport of Plutonium in the Far-Field of the Mayak Production Association, Russia." Science. 314(5799) October 2006: 638 - 641.

Read Abstract