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

Title: 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.

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

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1361601

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-692614; ICHBD9

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

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 3 works

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References (20)

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A multi-method approach for determination of radionuclide distribution in trinitite Wallace, Christine; Bellucci, Jeremy J.; Simonetti, Antonio Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 298, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-013-2497-8	journal	April 2013
Sourcing of Copper and Lead within Red Inclusions from Trinitite Postdetonation Material Koeman, Elizabeth C.; Simonetti, Antonio; Burns, Peter C. Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 87, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b00696	journal	May 2015
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Constraints on fallout melt glass formation from a near-surface nuclear test Eppich, Gary R.; Knight, Kim B.; Jacomb-Hood, Timothy W. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 302, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3293-9	journal	July 2014
Nature of Nuclear Debris in Sea-Water Freiling, E. C.; Ballou, N. E. Nature, Vol. 195, Issue 4848 https://doi.org/10.1038/1951283a0	journal	September 1962
When the dust settles: stable xenon isotope constraints on the formation of nuclear fallout Cassata, W. S.; Prussin, S. G.; Knight, K. B. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Vol. 137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.06.011	journal	November 2014
Fractionation Phenomena in Nuclear Weapons Debris Edvarson, K.; LÖW, Kerstin; Sisefsky, J. Nature, Vol. 184, Issue 4701 https://doi.org/10.1038/1841771a0	journal	December 1959
Postdetonation nuclear debris for attribution Fahey, A. J.; Zeissler, C. J.; Newbury, D. E. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 107, Issue 47 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1010631107	journal	November 2010
Sourcing of Copper and Lead within Red Inclusions from Trinitite Postdetonation Material Koeman, Elizabeth C.; Simonetti, Antonio; Burns, Peter C. Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 87, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b00696	journal	May 2015
Spatially-resolved analyses of aerodynamic fallout from a uranium-fueled nuclear test Lewis, L. A.; Knight, K. B.; Matzel, J. E. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Vol. 148 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.04.006	journal	October 2015
Isotopic Fingerprinting of the World’s First Nuclear Device Using Post-Detonation Materials Bellucci, Jeremy J.; Simonetti, Antonio; Wallace, Christine Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 85, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/ac400577p	journal	March 2013
Residual Radioactivity in the Soil of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in the Former USSR Yamamoto, Masayoshi; Tsukatani, Tsuneo; Katayama, Yukio Health Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-199608000-00004	journal	January 1996
Investigating incorporation and distribution of radionuclides in trinitite Belloni, F.; Himbert, J.; Marzocchi, O. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Vol. 102, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.05.003	journal	September 2011
The compositions, structures and origins of radioactive fall-out particles Adams, C. E.; Farlow, N. H.; Schell, W. R. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 18, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(60)90016-8	journal	January 1960
The condensation of a vapour to an assembly of droplets or particles Stewart, K. Transactions of the Faraday Society, Vol. 52 https://doi.org/10.1039/tf9565200161	journal	January 1956
Global distribution of Pu isotopes and 237Np Kelley, J. M.; Bond, L. A.; Beasley, T. M. Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 237-238 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0048-9697(99)00160-6	journal	September 1999
Radionuclide Fractionation in Bomb Debris: The fractionation systematics for high-yield bursts at sea-water and coral surfaces are delineated Freiling, E. C. Science, Vol. 133, Issue 3469 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.133.3469.1991	journal	June 1961
Deposition of vaporized species onto glassy fallout from a near-surface nuclear test Weisz, David G.; Jacobsen, Benjamin; Marks, Naomi E. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 201 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.10.036	journal	March 2017
Debris from Tests of Nuclear Weapons: Activities roughly proportional to volume are found in particles examined by autoradiography and microscopy Sisefsky, J. Science, Vol. 133, Issue 3455 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.133.3455.735	journal	March 1961
Lead Isotopic Composition of Trinitite Melt Glass: Evidence for the Presence of Canadian Industrial Lead in the First Atomic Weapon Test Bellucci, Jeremy J.; Simonetti, Antonio; Wallace, Christine Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 85, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1021/ac4016648	journal	July 2013
Rhyolite-MELTS: a Modified Calibration of MELTS Optimized for Silica-rich, Fluid-bearing Magmatic Systems Gualda, G. A. R.; Ghiorso, M. S.; Lemons, R. V. Journal of Petrology, Vol. 53, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egr080	journal	January 2012
A multi-method approach for determination of radionuclide distribution in trinitite Wallace, Christine; Bellucci, Jeremy J.; Simonetti, Antonio Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 298, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-013-2497-8	journal	April 2013

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Title: Plutonium segregation in glassy aerodynamic fallout from a nuclear weapon test

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