Biblioteca Origen csic Identificador Communications Earth & Environment 7: 92 (2026) Identificador http://hdl.handle.net/10261/423167 Identificador 10.1038/s43247-025-03095-2 Identificador 2662-4435 Identificador http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 Identificador http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006055 Identificador http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 Identificador 2-s2.0-105028896027 Identificador https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/105028896027 Título Trace americium contamination sources in the environment can be detected using 243Am/241Am Autor Chamizo, Elena Autor López-Lora, Mercedes Autor López-Fuentes, Antonio J. Materia Environmental impact Resumen Despite the widespread presence of americium in the environment since the 1950s from nuclear activities, the use of americium isotopic composition to trace contamination sources has not been investigated. Here we report the detection of 243Am in environmental samples and demonstrate that the ratio of 243Am to 241Am can serve as a distinctive fingerprint of radioactive emissions, with characteristic values of 0.05 for thermonuclear explosions, 0.023 for global fallout, below 0.0015 for low-yield nuclear tests, and 0.0013 for releases from a nuclear reprocessing facility. In nuclear detonations, 243Am is produced as the decay product of 243Pu. The ratio of 243Am to 239Pu in global fallout is about 3.2 × 10⁻⁴, supporting the predicted formation of neutron-rich heavy plutonium isotopes during nuclear detonations. | This publication is part of the project PID2022-140680NB-I00, funded by MICIU/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF/EU. | M. López-Lora received funding through the HORIZON MSCA-2022-PF-01-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (Grant agreement ID: 101106068). Antonio López Fuentes was funded by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council. The authors gratefully acknowledge V. Lérida, I. Levy, and G. Olszewski for their valuable support in the radiochemical process. | Peer reviewed Editor Springer Nature Contribuidor Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España) | Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España) | European Commission | Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (España) | Chamizo, Elena [0000-0001-8266-6129] | López-Lora, Mercedes [0000-0003-2124-5077] | López-Fuentes, Antonio J. [0009-0001-1755-630X] | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72] Fecha de Publicación 2026-12-01 Tipo info:eu-repo/semantics/article | http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 | Publisher s version | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Formato application/pdf Idioma en Relación #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# | #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023/PID2022-140680NB-I00/ES/NUEVOS DESARROLLOS DE LA ESPECTROMETRIA DE MASAS CON ACELERADORES DE BAJA ENERGIA (LEAMS) PARA SU APLICACION A NUEVOS PROBLEMAS AMBIENTALES Y DE GESTION DE RESIDUOS NUCLEARES/ | info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/HE/101106068 | Chamizo, Elena; López-Lora, Mercedes; López-Fuentes, Antonio J.; 2025; Chamizo et al-Comm-Earth&Environment-2025 [Dataset]; Figshare; https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30694538; http://hdl.handle.net/10261/423176 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03095-2 | Sí Derechos info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Información OAI   ID oai:digital.csic.es:10261/423167 Última Modificación 2026-03-13