Radionuclide Fractionation in Bomb Debris

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Abstract
The composition of fractionated samples from high-yield surface bursts can be correlated logarithmically. The slopes obtained for the various mass chains (except for molybdenum-99) are relatively insensitive to the environment and are empirically related to precursor volatility. Zirconium-95, cerium-144, uranium-237, and neptunium-239 do not fractionate grossly from one another, nor does molybdenum-99 fractionate from these radionuclides when coral is in the environment; cesium-137 does not fractionate grossly from strontium-89. Even the data with the poorest fit fall wide of the correlation lines only by a factor of about 2. In all cases except that of the deep-water surface burst, the cloud sample was found to be rich in strontium-89. Several pieces of information are lacking for the data presented here. First in importance is the effect of artifactitious fractionation. The behavior of the deep-water surface burst is anomalous in a number of respects, and supporting information on such detonations is needed. The findings will have to be viewed in the light of similar studies on many other types of bursts before any firm conclusions and reliable generalizations can be reached.

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