The South China Sea accumulating…Plutonium?

by Cesar Caballero

The plutonium (Pu) distribution in the South China Sea. Figure taken from Junwen et al. 2017.

The South China Sea, having a total surface area of 3.5 x 10^6 square kilometers is by far the largest sea in the North Pacific Ocean. The down side: scientists are examining an accumulation of plutonium (Pu) in the South China Sea. Plutonium (Pu), a man-made element, is being released into the oceanic environment via three primary processes. The first input of plutonium is via ground nuclear weapons testing. The next input is simply via accidental releases of the element. The third and final input of plutonium into the oceanic environment occurs from discharges from reprocessing plants. Why is this a concern to us? For starters, plutonium is very toxic, it has long half-lives, and plutonium also has a huge risk of internal radiation as well. What’s the next step for scientists? Scientists, thanks to their research, have established a starting point to tackle future environmental risks of anything and everything that harms our oceanic environments.

Original article: Junwen Wu, Minhan Dai, Yi Xu, Jian Zheng, Sources and accumulation of plutonium in a large Western Pacific marginal sea: The South China Sea, In Science of The Total Environment, Volumes 610–611, 2018, Pages 200-211.