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Measurements of 135Cs/137Cs in debris from the Trinity nuclear test

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Abstract

135Cs/137Cs measurements were performed on a set of debris samples from the first nuclear test, Trinity. Debris from several locations around ground zero of the event were purified and analyzed for 135Cs/137Cs by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). The Cs-isotopic measurements presented here are the first high precision TIMS 135Cs/137Cs measurements of trinitite from variable locations and cooling histories relative to ground zero. Our measurements show a large fractionation from the predicted fission yields, all with a relative enrichment in 137Cs. 135Cs/137Cs ratios indicate that condensation times varied between different debris forms, however they are not consistent with an unfractionated decay to Cs from independent fission products. Variations in 135Cs/137Cs ratios are observed with relative distance from ground zero as well as 135Cs/137Cs heterogeneities between different trinitite lithologies within a single sample.

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Acknowledgements

This work was graciously supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program of Los Alamos National Laboratory under project 20210215DR. We would like to thank Hakim Boukhalfa and Doug Ware for their assistance in acquiring and photographing debris samples. We would also like to thank Reg Rocha for his guidance concerning data interpretation.

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  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA

    Mark A. Boggs, Andrew A. Reinhard, Jeremy Inglis, James Tutt, Gabrielle Lee & Cheriece Margiotta

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  1. Mark A. Boggs
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  2. Andrew A. Reinhard
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  3. Jeremy Inglis
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  4. James Tutt
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  5. Gabrielle Lee
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  6. Cheriece Margiotta
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Correspondence to Mark A. Boggs.

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Boggs, M.A., Reinhard, A.A., Inglis, J. et al. Measurements of 135Cs/137Cs in debris from the Trinity nuclear test. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 4157–4165 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-09096-9

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