TRANSURANIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT 



ATMOSPHERE 



SEDIMENT 



Fig. 1 Movement of transuranic elements to man from atmosphere, aquatic, and 

 terrestrial components of the biosphere. 



This synthesis is intended to clarify the present status of knowledge about transuranic 

 elements and should stimulate further research that will define more clearly the 

 environmental behavior of the transuranic elements and foster further analysis of new 

 data as they become available. 



Distribution and Inventory 



Sources 



Atomic weapons testing has been the major source of transuranic elements in the 

 general environment. A portion of the debris from these tests was transferred into the 

 stratosphere and then slowly returned to the Earth's surface. Because the transuranic 

 elements were exposed to high temperatures, it was assumed that they were formed as 

 high-fired oxides. It was further assumed that neither plutonium nor americium would 

 move readily into biological systems because high-fired oxide particles would not dissolve 

 in natural waters or, if they did, would form insoluble polymeric hydrated oxides. 

 Further, it has been suggested that the behavior of transuranic elements in the 

 environment is a function of source and, for plutonium, isotopic composition. 



If these assumptions are accepted, transuranic elements are unlike any other element 

 in the periodic table. However, experimental evidence relating to plutonium and 

 americium in a wide variety of environments does not bear out these assumptions. It is 

 known that a significant fraction of the plutonium deposited on the surface of the earth 



