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DIFFUSION AND DEPOSITION OF THE SCHOONER CLOUDS

SCHOONER EVENT; BOWLINE OPERATION; AERIAL MONITORING; SAMPLING; RADIOACTIVE CLOUDS; DEPOSITION; IODINE 131; DATA; ACTIVITY LEVELS; SODIUM 24; MANGANESE 54; COBALT 57; COBALT 58; ARSENIC 74; YTTRIUM 88; MOLYBDENUM 99; RUTHENIUM 103; TELLURIUM 132; CESIUM 137; BARIUM 140; CERIUM 141; NEODYMIUM 147; TANTALUM 183; TUNGSTEN 181; TUNGSTEN 185; TUNGSTEN 187; GOLD 196; LEAD 203; URANIUM 237

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

REPORT

1969 Dec 03

Never classified

0022

NV0014968

UCRL71878

LAWRENCE RADIATION LABORATORY, U. OF CA

1994 Aug 26

2003 Sep 18

SCHOONER WAS A 31-KT NUCLEAR CRATERING EXPERIMENT DONE AS PART OF THE U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION'S PLOWSHARE PROGRAM. DETONATION WAS 0800 PST ON DECEMBER 8, 1968 AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE. THE RESULTING CLOUD H AD CEASED ITS DYNAMIC GROWTH BY ABOUT H+4 MIN. TWO DISTINCT PARTS, A B ASE SURGE AND A MAIN CLOUD, WERE EVIDENT. THEREAFTER, FURTHER CLOUD GR OWTH WAS BY DIFFUSION AND FALLOUT AS THE CLOUD MOVED DOWNWIND. AIRCRAF T SAMPLING OF THE CLOUD AT H +12.5 MIN REVEALED THAT THE MAIN CLOUD PA RT CONTAINED ABOUT 10 TIMES AS MUCH RADIOACTIVITY AS THE BASE SURGE PA RT. LATER AIRCRAFT DATA, LOCAL FALLOUT FIELD MEASUREMENTS, AND AIRBORN E PARTICLE SIZE DATA INDICATE THAT THE H+12.5-MIN CLOUD BURDENS, PRIMA RILY THE TUNGSTEN ISOTOPES, WERE DEPLETED BY A FACTOR OF ABOUT 2, DUE TO FALLOUT, OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. THE REMAINING AIRBORNE CLOUD BURD ENS FOR EACH CLOUD WERE USED AS INPUT TO DIFFUSION CALCULATIONS. CALCU LATED MAIN CLOUD CENTER CONCENTRATIONS USING OBSERVED CLOUD SIZES, CLO UD BURDENS, AND METEOROLOGY AGREE WITH MEASUREMENTS TO BETTER THAN A F ACTOR OF 3 HIGHER THAN CALCULATIONS DONE PRESHOT. BASE SURGE CALCULATI ONS ARE CONSISTENT WITH AVAILABLE DATA TO WITHIN ABOUT A FACTOR OF 4, BUT THE DATA NEEDED TO PERFORM AS COMPLETE AN ANALYSIS AS WAS DONE FOR THE MAIN CLOUD DO NOT EXIST. FALLOUT, AS DISTINGUSHED FROM DEPOSITION OF NONFALLING DEBRIS, WAS IMPORTANT TO A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 500 KM FOR THE MAIN CLOUD AND TO A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 100 KM FOR THE BASE SURGE. A T DISTANCES CLOSER TO GROUND ZERO, DIFFUSION CALCULATIONS UNDER-PREDIC ED GROUND LEVEL CONCENTRATION AND DEPOSITION, BUT AN ISOTOPICALLY SCAL ED EXTERNAL GROSS GAMMA FALLOUT CALCULATION WAS WITHIN ABOUT A FACTOR OF 3 OF THE DATA. AT LARGER DISTANCES DOWNWIND FOR THE BASE SURGE, GRO OUND LEVEL EXPOSURE RATE CALCULATIONS AND DEPOSITION FOR A VARIETY OF NUCLIDES AGREE TO WITHIN ABOUT A FACTOR OF 3 OF MEASUREMENTS.