Vertical profiles of 239,240Pu and 241Am in two sphagnum mosses of Italian peat

During the last two years the Urbino University and the Padua ICTIMA CNR collaborated on a special radioecological program having the aim to study the Pu and Am retention behaviour in Sphagnum peat in the Alps region northern Italy.. 239,240Pu, 238Pu and 241Am were separated and determined by extraction chromatography, electroplating and alpha spectrometry; 242Pu and 243Am were used as the yield tracers. The paper summarizes the results dealing with the vertical profiles of the radionuclides in Sphagnum compactum and S. nemoreum. Several 1]2 cm high sections were obtained and dated by 210Pb determination. Typical concentration peaks for Pu and Am were found at a depth corresponding to the early 1960s which is the period characterized by the maximum nuclear weapon tests.