TY - JOUR
T1 - Tracking Radionuclide Fractionation in the First Atomic Explosion Using Stable Elements
AU - Bonamici, Chloë E.
AU - Hervig, Richard
AU - Kinman, William S.
N1 - Funding Information: C.B. thanks Drs. Warren Oldham and Susan Hanson for providing samples. This project was funded through the United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration, the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute for Actinide Science, and the Strategic Outcomes Office of Los Alamos National Laboratory. This publication has been cleared for unlimited release under LA-UR-16-26053. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2017/9/19
Y1 - 2017/9/19
N2 - Compositional analysis of postdetonation fallout is a tool for forensic identification of nuclear devices. However, the relationship between device composition and fallout composition is difficult to interpret because of the complex combination of physical mixing, nuclear reactions, and chemical fractionations that occur in the chaotic nuclear fireball. Using a combination of in situ microanalytical techniques (electron microprobe analysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry), we show that some heavy stable elements (Rb, Sr, Zr, Ba, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Dy, Lu, U, Th) in glassy fallout from the first nuclear test, Trinity, are reliable chemical proxies for radionuclides generated during the explosion. Stable-element proxies show that radionuclides from the Trinity device were chemically, but not isotopically, fractionated by condensation. Furthermore, stable-element proxies delineate chemical fractionation trends that can be used to connect present-day fallout composition to past fireball composition. Stable-element proxies therefore offer a novel approach for elucidating the phenomenology of the nuclear fireball as it relates to the formation of debris and the fixation of device materials within debris.
AB - Compositional analysis of postdetonation fallout is a tool for forensic identification of nuclear devices. However, the relationship between device composition and fallout composition is difficult to interpret because of the complex combination of physical mixing, nuclear reactions, and chemical fractionations that occur in the chaotic nuclear fireball. Using a combination of in situ microanalytical techniques (electron microprobe analysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry), we show that some heavy stable elements (Rb, Sr, Zr, Ba, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Dy, Lu, U, Th) in glassy fallout from the first nuclear test, Trinity, are reliable chemical proxies for radionuclides generated during the explosion. Stable-element proxies show that radionuclides from the Trinity device were chemically, but not isotopically, fractionated by condensation. Furthermore, stable-element proxies delineate chemical fractionation trends that can be used to connect present-day fallout composition to past fireball composition. Stable-element proxies therefore offer a novel approach for elucidating the phenomenology of the nuclear fireball as it relates to the formation of debris and the fixation of device materials within debris.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b01965
DO - 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b01965
M3 - Article
C2 - 28810732
SN - 0003-2700
VL - 89
SP - 9877
EP - 9883
JO - Analytical chemistry
JF - Analytical chemistry
IS - 18
ER -