Hydrologic processes and radionuclide distribution in a cavity and chimney produced by the Cannikin nuclear explosion, Amchitka Island, Alaska
An analysis of hydraulic, chemical, and radiochemical data obtained in the vicinity of the site of a nuclear explosion (code-named Cannikin, 1971), on Amchitka Island, Alaska, was undertaken to describe the hydrologic processes associated with the saturation of subsurface void space produced by the explosion. Immediately after detonation of the explosive, a subsurface cavity was created surrounding the explosion point. This cavity soon was partly filled by collapse of overburden, producing void volume in a rubble chimney extending to land surface and forming a surface-collapse sink. Surface and groundwater immediately began filling the chimney but was excluded for a time from the cavity by the presence of steam. When the steam condensed, the accumulated water in the chimney flowed into the cavity region, picking up and depositing radioactive materials along its path. Refilling of the chimney voids then resumed and was nearly complete about 260 days after the explosion. The hydraulic properties of identified aquifers intersecting the chimney were used with estimates of surface-water inflow, chimney dimensions, and the measured water-level rise in the chimney to estimate the distribution of explosion-created porosity in the chimney, which ranged from about 10 percent near the bottom to 4 percent near the top. Chemical and radiochemical analyses of water from the cavity resulted in identification of three aqueous phases: groundwater, surface water, and condensed steam. Although most water samples represented mixtures of these phases, they contained radioactivity representative of all radioactivity produced by the explosion.
- Research Organization:
- Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 7076392
- Report Number(s):
- USGS-712-D
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
450202* -- Explosions & Explosives-- Nuclear-- Weaponry-- (-1989)
510300 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
AMCHITKA ISLAND AREA
AQUIFERS
CANNIKIN EVENT
CAVITIES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHIMNEYS
CONTAINED EXPLOSIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPLOSIONS
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROLOGY
ISLANDS
ISOTOPES
MASS TRANSFER
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
WATER