Plutonium and americium in sediment samples along the Romanian sector of the Danube river and the Black Sea coast

The concentrations of238Pu,239,240Pu and241Am were determined in eight sediment samples, collected from the bed of the Romanian sector of the Danube river and the Black Sea coast during 1994 and 1995. Fusion with potassium carbonate was used to achieve complete dissolution of the samples. Tracers,242Pu and243Am, were added and the separation of plutonium from americium, uranium and thorium was performed by anion exchange. Americium was separated from uranium in two steps, using a conventional anion exchange resin and an extraction chromatographic resin for transuranics. After electrodeposition on stainless steel discs the nuclides were counted with α-spectrometry with α-PIPS detectors. The total plutonium concentrations obtained by this method were compared with the acid leachable plutonium concentrations reported for the same samples in a previous paper.