Recent atmospheric injections of nuclear debris: fallout from the 16 October 1980 nuclear explosion. [Chinese 25th Test]

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5936155

Burchfield, L A

The /sup 89/Sr//sup 90/Sr ratio variation in rain and snow samples were studied at Fayetteville, Arkansas, between 21 September 1979, and 6 August 1981. The presence of fresh nuclear debris was detected following the 25th Chinese test of 16 October 1980. A tropospheric cycling effect was clearly indicated in the radiostrontium data following this test. While the fallout of uranium from the burn-up of the Soviet satellite Cosmos-954 was not accompanied by fission products, concentrations of /sup 89/Sr and /sup 90/Sr in rain and snow at Fayetteville, Arkansas, showed a spectacular increase during the spring months of 1981 due to the 25th Chinese nuclear test explosion of 16 October 1980. Nuclear debris injected into the atmosphere by the Three-Mile-Island accident of April 1979 was not detected in rain samples collected at Fayeteville, Arkansas. This seems to indicate that the atmospheric injection of fission products from this nuclear accident was limited primarily to gaseous fission products.

• Research Organization: Arkansas Univ., Fayetteville (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5936155
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500300* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ARKANSAS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPLOSIONS
FALLOUT
FEDERAL REGION VI
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
NUCLEI
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOISOTOPES
RAIN
SNOW
STRONTIUM 89
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
USA
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES