title: Source-term characterisation and solid speciation of plutonium at the Semipalatinsk NTS, Kazakhstan.
abstract: New data on the concentrations of key fission/activation products and transuranium nuclides in samples of soil and water from the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site are presented and interpreted. Sampling was carried out at Ground Zero, Lake Balapan, the Tel'kem craters and reference locations within the test site boundary well removed from localised sources. Radionuclide ratios have been used to characterise the source term(s) at each of these sites. The geochemical partitioning of plutonium has also been examined and it is shown that the bulk of the plutonium contamination at most of the sites examined is in a highly refractory, non-labile form.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Physics, University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Belfield 4.
authors.forename: H Jiménez
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Nápoles
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: León Vintró
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Omarova
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burkitbayev
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Priest
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Artemyev
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lukashenko