PNNL

Abstract

A suite of measurement systems were deployed as part of the Physical Experiment 1 series of experiments, which involved 24 detonating chemical explosives along with radionuclide tracers in an underground cavity, at the Nevada National Security Site 25 (NNSS) in the United States. One of the radionuclide tracers, 127Xe was released from the containment following the explosion 26 and detected on a SAUNA QB sampler situated approximately 3.5 km away. The system uses a beta-gamma coincidence detector 27 system to measure fission product radioisotopes of xenon relevant to nuclear explosion monitoring. In this work we use the 28 coincidence measurement data to analyse and interpret the results from the SAUNA QB system, to calculate the measured 127Xe 29 activity concentration(s).