Delivery of transuranic elements by rain to the Mediterranean Sea

The concentrations of ²³⁸Pu, ^{239 + 240}Pu, ²⁴¹Am and ¹³⁷Cs were determined in rain samples collected at Monaco in the course of 1978–1979. Based on these data, the annual deliveries of these radionuclides to the Mediterranean by rain are computed to be 0.18 ± 0.01 pCim^?2 for ²³⁸Pu, 8.1 ± 0.1 pCim^?2 for ^{239 + 240}Pu, 0.58 ± 0.02 pCim^?2 for ²⁴¹Am and 351 ± 4 pCim^?2 for ¹³⁷Cs.Comparing the delivery data with the mixed layer inventories of ^{239 + 240}Pu and ²⁴¹Am in the Mediterranean, the upper limits of the mean residence time of these radionuclides in the mixed layer were estimated to be 12.3 yr for ^{239 + 240}pu and 2.9 yr for ²⁴¹Am. These values are consistent with the conclusion deduced from the vertical distribution pattern of these transuranic elements in the Mediterranean.Based on delivery values, the annual activity ratios for ${}^{238}\text{pu}{}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{Pu}$, ${}^{241}\text{Am}{}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{Pu}$ and ${}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{pu}{}^{137}\text{Cs}$ are found to be 0,022, 0.072 and 0.023 respectively. The ${}^{238}\text{pu}{}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{pu}$ and ${}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{Pu}{}^{137}\text{Cs}$ activity ratios vary within relatively narrow ranges with time, while a much wider variation was observed for the ${}^{241}\text{Am}{}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{Pu}$ activity ratio. The cause of the wider variation of the ${}^{241}\text{Am}{}^{\mathrm{239\; +\; 240}}\text{Pu}$ ratio may be related to the difference in the mean age of fallout brought down in different seasons.