Airborne radioactivity due to nuclear weapons tests

Abstract

Samples of surface air collected at Argonne National Laboratory since early 1952 have been analyzed for specific fission products by NaI scintillation spectrometry. The W181 and Rh102 produced in the Hardtack series (1958) have been used to assign nuclear debris to the low‐ and high‐altitude phases of this series, respectively. Activity ratios between appropriate radionuclides have been used to determine the portion of total debris arising from the Soviet October 1958 series. The differences in mean stratospheric residence time as a function of latitude and altitude of injection, as deduced from these data, are discussed in detail.