Speciation of Plutonium and Some Chemical Elements in the Bottom Sediments of the Laptev Sea and the Kara Sea

The comparison of the speciations of 239Pu and chemical elements, including rare earth elements (REE), in the bottom sediments of the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea is given. The speciations were investigated by three different methods of selective leaching. Data were obtained on the content of chemical elements and 239Pu in the composition of complexes with different lability: easily soluble, bound to organic matter, including groups of humic acids (HA) and fulvic acids (FA), as well as to amorphous oxides of Fe and Mn. It is shown that humic and low molecular weight organic acids and their compounds with chemical elements can influence the behavior of plutonium in the seawater–bottom sediments system in the waters of the Arctic seas. The possibility of using a number of REE as a marker for predicting the migration behavior of plutonium is evaluated.