Radioactivity in Trinitite six decades later

Parekh, P. P.; Semkow, Thomas M.; Torres, Miguel; Haines, Douglas K.; Cooper, Joseph M.; Rosenberg, Peter; Kitto, Michael E.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.01.017

Cited by 66 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In the recent past the Moon was once considered a likely nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapon/device test-site (Richelson, 2000). If ever conducted, such tests would have generated a greenish artificial stone called Trinitite, the material result of induced transformation as sand from the New Mexico desert was sucked upwards into the 16 July 1945 nuclear fireball and fell back in a dense precipitation of molten, quickly cooled glass (Parekh et al, 2006). Testing even peaceful nuclear explosives on the lunar regolith could obliterate Neil Armstrong's chronology-initiating sterile spacesuit boot footprints (Moore, 1980;Spennemann, 2004) as well as adding/removing gases from the Moon that were first unambiguously detected during the Apollo Missions -namely, 36 Ar, 40 Ar, He, Na and K (Fisher, 2010).…”

Section: Gamut Of Main Unfamiliar Technogenic Rocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropic Rock: a brief history

Cathcart¹

2011

Hist. Geo Space. Sci.

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Abstract. Stone tool-making is a reductive process. Synthetic rock manufacturing, preeminently an additive process, will not for-ever be confined to only the Earth-biosphere. This brief focuses on humanity's ancient past, hodiernal and possible future even more massive than present-day creation of artificial rocks within our exploitable Solar System. It is mostly Earth-centric account that expands the factual generalities underlying the unique non-copyrighted systemic technogenic rock classification first publicly presented (to the American Geological Society) during 2001, by its sole intellectual innovator, James Ross Underwood, Jr. His pioneering, unique exposition of an organization of this ever-increasingly important aspect of the Anthropic Rock story, spatially expansive material lithification, here is given an amplified discussion for the broader geo and space science social group-purpose of encouragement of a completer 21st Century treatment of Underwood's explicative subject-chart (Fig. 2).

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Section: Gamut Of Main Unfamiliar Technogenic Rocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropic Rock: a brief history

Cathcart¹

2011

Hist. Geo Space. Sci.

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“…Gamma-ray analysis for actual trinitite has already been carried by a number of groups including Eppich et al, [3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. These results are used as a basis for comparison of the trinitite to the surrogate samples developed in this work.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The synthetic sample was re-counted at 222 days (denoted S-222) in order observe the longer-lived progeny and [11] b Isotope reported by Schlauf [3] c Isotope reported by Parekh [6] The real trinitite (which has a decay time of 69 years) was counted on a Canberra Gamma Analyst. The instrument consisted of a 70 mm coaxial high-purity germanium N-type detector.…”

Section: Irradiation and Measurement Of Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of gamma spectra from trinitite versus irradiated synthetic nuclear melt glass

Cook

Auxier

Giminaro

et al. 2015

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

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The development of realistic nuclear melt glass surrogates is important to the nuclear forensics community in order to establish analytical protocols for post-detonation analysis. In addition to creating surrogates that are accurate with regard to physical morphology and chemical composition, it is important to develop surrogates that also have similar radiological characteristics. A synthetic melt glass sample was irradiated at the High-Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This sample was counted twice using a semiconductor radiation detector to capture both fission-product signatures as well as those from neutron activation. A qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed to make recommendations for the next irradiation campaign.

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“…In contrast to Cold War era research focused on the distribution and dispersion of radioactive fallout particulates, these studies are typically motivated by renewed interest in interpreting details and signatures of a device having a potentially unknown origin [43,44,45,46]. For example, a study of trinitite (fallout formed in the Trinity explosion) published in 2006 measured several activation products and fission products via gamma spectroscopy in the glass, from which device characteristics were hypothesized [43]. These studies show copper and iron inclusions, as well as variable lead isotopic compositions, which the authors suggest are indicative of device components, such as wiring and the tamper [44,45].…”

Section: Contemporary Fallout Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Transport of Condensed Species in Aerodynamic Fallout Glass from a Near-Surface Nuclear Test

Weisz¹

2016

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In a near-surface nuclear explosion, vaporized device materials are incorporated into molten soil and other carrier materials, forming glassy fallout upon quenching. Mechanisms by which device materials mix with carrier materials have been proposed, however, the specific mechanisms and physical conditions by which soil and other carrier materials interact in the fireball, as well as the subsequent incorporation of device materials with carrier materials, are not well constrained. A surface deposition layer was observed preserved at interfaces where two aerodynamic fallout glasses agglomerated and fused. Eleven such boundaries were studied using spatially resolved analyses to better understand the vaporization and condensation behavior of species in the fireball. Using nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), we identified higher concentrations of uranium from the device in 7 of the interface layers, as well as isotopic enrichment (>75% 235 U) in 9 of the interface layers. Major element analysis of the interfaces revealed the deposition layer to be chemically enriched in Fe-, Ca-and Na-bearing species and depleted in Ti-and Al-bearing species. The concentration profiles of the enriched species at the interface are characteristic of diffusion. Three of the uranium concentration profiles were fit with a modified Gaussian function, representative of 1-D diffusion from a planar source, to determine time and temperature parameters of mass transport. By using a historical model of fireball temperature to simulate the cooling rate at the interface, the temperature of deposition was estimated to be ∼2200 K, with 1σ uncertainties in excess of 140 K. The presence of Na-species in the layers at this estimated temperature of deposition is indicative of an oxygen rich fireball. The notable depletion of Al-species, a refractory oxide that is highly abundant in the soil, together with the enrichment of Ca-, Fe-, and 235 U-species, suggests an anthropogenic source of the enriched species, together with a continuous chemical fractionation process as these species condensed.

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Radioactivity in Trinitite six decades later

Cited by 66 publications

References 10 publications

Anthropic Rock: a brief history

Anthropic Rock: a brief history

A comparison of gamma spectra from trinitite versus irradiated synthetic nuclear melt glass

Mass Transport of Condensed Species in Aerodynamic Fallout Glass from a Near-Surface Nuclear Test

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