On the use of MnO cartridges for the plutonium determination in seawater.

To analyze plutonium (Pu) in open ocean waters can be challenging due to the low seawater concentrations. In this study we compared two techniques for Pu determination, one in-situ MnO cartridge system and the more commonly used MnO precipitation technique. During the pre-pilot GEOTRACES cruise ANT XXX-1 (2005) we tested MnO cartridges for the pre-concentration of Pu from seawater at 19 sampling stations on a transect in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean between Vigo (Spain) and Cape Town (South Africa).