Delayed signatures of underground nuclear explosions

被引：39

作者：

Carrigan, Charles R. ^{[1
]}

Sun, Yunwei ^{[1
]}

Hunter, Steven L. ^{[1
]}

Ruddle, David G. ^{[1
]}

Wagoner, Jeffrey L. ^{[1
]}

Myers, Katherine B. L. ^{[1
]}

Emer, Dudley F. ^{[2
]}

Drellack, Sigmund L. ^{[2
]}

Chipman, Veraun D. ^{[2
]}

机构：

[1] Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA USA

[2] Natl Secur Technol, Las Vegas, NV USA

来源：

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | 2016年 / 6卷

关键词：

GAS-TRANSPORT; NORTH-KOREA;

D O I：

10.1038/srep23032

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

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.

引用

页数：9

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