Plutonium segregation in glassy aerodynamic fallout from a nuclear weapon test

Holliday, K. S.; Dierken, J. M.; Monroe, M. L.; Fitzgerald, M. A.; Marks, N. E.; Gostic, R. C.; Knight, K. B.; Czerwinski, K. R.; Hutcheon, I. D.; McClory, J. W.

doi:10.1039/C6DT04184A

Plutonium segregation in glassy aerodynamic fallout from a nuclear weapon test

Journal Article · Wed Jan 11 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Dalton Transactions

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C6DT04184A· OSTI ID:1361601

^[1]; Dierken, J. M. ^[2]; Monroe, M. L. ^[2]; Fitzgerald, M. A. ^[3]; Marks, N. E. ^[1]; Gostic, R. C. ^[1]; Knight, K. B. ^[1]; Czerwinski, K. R. ^[4]; Hutcheon, I. D. ^[1]; McClory, J. W. ^[2]

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Air Force Research Lab. (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States)

Our study combines electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy to probe major element composition and autoradiography to map plutonium in order to examine the spatial relationships between plutonium and fallout composition in aerodynamic glassy fallout from a nuclear weapon test. We interrogated a sample set of 48 individual fallout specimens in order to reveal that the significant chemical heterogeneity of this sample set could be described compositionally with a relatively small number of compositional endmembers. Furthermore, high concentrations of plutonium were never associated with several endmember compositions and concentrated with the so-called mafic glass endmember. Our result suggests that it is the physical characteristics of the compositional endmembers and not the chemical characteristics of the individual component elements that govern the un-burnt plutonium distribution with respect to major element composition in fallout.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (NA-20)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1361601

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--692614

Journal Information:: Dalton Transactions, Journal Name: Dalton Transactions Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 46; ISSN 1477-9226; ISSN ICHBD9

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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