Delayed signatures of underground nuclear explosions

Radionuclide signals from underground nuclear explosions (UNEs) are strongly influenced by the surrounding hydrogeologic regime. One effect of containment is delay of detonation-produced radioxenon reaching the surface as well as lengthening of its period of detectability compared to uncontained exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-03, Vol.6 (1), p.23032-23032, Article 23032
Main Authors: Carrigan, Charles R., Sun, Yunwei, Hunter, Steven L., Ruddle, David G., Wagoner, Jeffrey L., Myers, Katherine B. L., Emer, Dudley F., Drellack, Sigmund L., Chipman, Veraun D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
119/118
639/705/1046
704/172/169/895
Containment
Energy - Coal, lignite, and peat, Nuclear science and engineering - Nuclear disarmament, safeguards, and physical protection, Geosciences, Military science - Nuclear weapons and effects, Energy - Storage
Explosions
Fractures
Gases
Humanities and Social Sciences
Isotopes
Mathematical models
Migration
multidisciplinary
Nuclear explosions
NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
Radon
Science
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Summary:Radionuclide signals from underground nuclear explosions (UNEs) are strongly influenced by the surrounding hydrogeologic regime. One effect of containment is delay of detonation-produced radioxenon reaching the surface as well as lengthening of its period of detectability compared to uncontained explosions. Using a field-scale tracer experiment, we evaluate important transport properties of a former UNE site. We observe the character of signals at the surface due to the migration of gases from the post-detonation chimney under realistic transport conditions. Background radon signals are found to be highly responsive to cavity pressurization suggesting that large local radon anomalies may be an indicator of a clandestine UNE. Computer simulations, using transport properties obtained from the experiment, track radioxenon isotopes in the chimney and their migration to the surface. They show that the chimney surrounded by a fractured containment regime behaves as a leaky chemical reactor regarding its effect on isotopic evolution introducing a dependence on nuclear yield not previously considered. This evolutionary model for radioxenon isotopes is validated by atmospheric observations of radioxenon from a 2013 UNE in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Our model produces results similar to isotopic observations with nuclear yields being comparable to seismic estimates.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep23032