686 TRANS URANIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT 



NARRAGANSETT 

 BAY 



SUSQUEHANNA 

 Q = 950 ^ 



POTOMAC, 

 Q = 340 



30 30 60 



I I I 1 



Scale, km 



-CHESAPEAKE BAY 



Fig. 1 Location map of the major estuarine systems of the northeastern United States. 

 Q is mean annual freshwater flow. 



2 3 9,240py which are resolvable in the presence of the burden of fallout ^^^'^"^^Pu. Thus 

 the current distribution of ^^^'^"^^Pu in the Hudson appears to be governed primarily by 

 the delivery of global fallout to the drainage basin mostly more than a decade ago and the 

 transport processes that have occurred since delivery. 



Table 1 shows concentrations of 2 3 9,240p^ ^ large-volume Hudson water samples 

 that have had the suspended load removed by settling for 24 to 48 hr or by passing 

 through a continuous-flow centrifuge followed by a 0.45-)um filter. The range of observed 

 values for samples collected in 1975 and 1976 was 0.12 to 0.88 fCi/Uter; the median 

 value was about 0.3 fCi/liter. The current annual transport of 2 3 9,24 0p^ ^ ^^^ 

 "dissolved" phase in the Hudson can be estimated to be about 5 x 10~^ Ci if we assume 

 a concentration of 0.3 fCi/liter and a mean annual river discharge of 550 m^ /sec. This 

 represents somewhat less than 0.01% of the fallout burden of ^^^'^'*°Pu (~80 Ci) in the 



