Radionuclide observables of underwater nuclear explosive tests.
J Environ Radioact
; 192: 160-165, 2018 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29960264
ABSTRACT
There remain technical challenges for an On-site Inspection (OSI) in the high seas environment, which gathers evidence of a violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). For terrestrial nuclear explosions, the radionuclide observables are well defined and States Parties have chosen 17 particulate radionuclides that allow discrimination from other nuclear events. However, an underwater nuclear explosion generates induced radionuclides from the neutron activation of seawater, which has the potential to interfere with the measurement of the radionuclide observables using gamma-spectrometry techniques. To understand these effects the inventory of OSI relevant (6.0â¯×â¯1016 Bq) and activation (1.6â¯×â¯1019 Bq) radionuclides has been calculated for a 1â¯kT underwater nuclear explosion. The activation products consist predominantly of 38Cl and 24Na, which decay to 5.56% and 0.0007% of their initial activity within 1 and 14 days. Monte Carlo techniques have been used to assess spectral interferences within this timeframe. It is demonstrated that during this period they do not interfere with the measurement of the existing radionuclide observables. Additionally, 24Na has been identified as useful for inspection purposes.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
1_ASSA2030
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Radioisótopos
/
Água do Mar
/
Poluentes Radioativos da Água
/
Monitoramento de Radiação
/
Armas Nucleares
Tipo de estudo:
Health_economic_evaluation
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Environ Radioact
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article