During World War II, the Hanford Site in Washington was chosen for plutonium production. In 2004, a bottle containing a sample of plutonium was recovered from a Hanford waste trench. Isotopic age dating indicated the sample was separated from the fuel pellet 64 ±2.8 years earlier. Detectable products of secondary nuclear reactions, such as 22Na, proved useful as 1) a detectable analog for alpha emitting actinides, 2) an indicator of sample splitting, and 3) a measure of the time since sample splitting. The sample origin was identified as the X-10 reactor, Oak Ridge, TN. Corroborated by historical documents, we concluded this sample was part of the first batch of Pu separated at T-Plant, Hanford, the world’s first industrial-scale reprocessing facility, on December 9, 1944.
Revised: March 20, 2009 |
Published: February 15, 2009
Citation
Schwantes J.M., M. Douglas, S.E. Bonde, D. Briggs, O.T. Farmer, L.R. Greenwood, and E.A. Lepel, et al. 2009.Nuclear Archeology in a Bottle: Evidence of Pre-Trinity U.S. Weapons Activities from a Waste Burial Site.Analytical Chemistry 81, no. 4:1297-1306.PNNL-SA-61826.