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Constraints on fallout melt glass formation from a near-surface nuclear test

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Abstract

We present major element and actinide composition data from a population of fallout glass samples produced from a single near-surface nuclear detonation. Glass major element compositions indicate that composition of local geology is a primary control on bulk fallout chemical composition. Uranium isotope compositions indicate that vaporized, residual fuel was incorporated into the melts prior to solidification, likely within seconds, and are consistent with two-component mixing between naturally-occurring uranium and residual uranium fuel. Model ages of the residual fuel in fallout are systematically inaccurate, biased towards older ages, and are consistent with two-component mixing between naturally-occurring daughter nuclides in local sediment and decay-derived daughter nuclides from residual nuclear fuel. Multiple processes such as mixing, agglomeration of melted sediment-derived droplets, and incorporation of condensates must all occur within the timescale between sediment melting and melt solidification.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Ross Williams for his invaluable guidance on actinide chemical separations and isotopic analyses. Rachel Lindvall and Zurong Dai are thanked for their instruction on and assistance with quadrupole ICPMS and SEM analyses, respectively. William Cassata, Stanley Prussin, Brett Isselhardt, and two anonymous reviewers provided useful comments that led to the improvement of the manuscript. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. This work was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under project tracking code 13-ERD-062, as well as with support by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development within the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. LLNL-JRNL-650394.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

    Gary R. Eppich, Kim B. Knight, Gregory D. Spriggs & Ian D. Hutcheon

  2. Department of Nuclear Engineering, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Timothy W. Jacomb-Hood

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  1. Gary R. Eppich
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  2. Kim B. Knight
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  3. Timothy W. Jacomb-Hood
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  4. Gregory D. Spriggs
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  5. Ian D. Hutcheon
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Correspondence to Gary R. Eppich.

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Eppich, G.R., Knight, K.B., Jacomb-Hood, T.W. et al. Constraints on fallout melt glass formation from a near-surface nuclear test. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 302, 593–609 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3293-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3293-9

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