Characterisation of individual micron sized nuclear weapons fragments from the Thule area by rL-SNMS
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In 1968, a US military aircraft equipped with nuclear weapons crashed in Thule, Greenland. As a result, plutonium containing fragments were scattered into the environment. In this work, four hot particles from the Thule area were identified and separated. The 241 Am activity of the particles was determined with gamma spectrometry. Resonant-laser secondary-neutral mass spectrometry was used to determine the isotope ratios of uranium and plutonium. Isotope ratios of 240 Pu/ 239 Pu > 0.055 and 235 U/ 238 U > 1.2 were observed. A hypothesis is proposed to explain the unexpectedly low uranium enrichment for the nuclear weapons.
Institutions: Leibniz University Hannover, Technical University of Denmark
Language: English
Subfield: Inorganic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,790
Award: G6193067940
OpenAlex ID: W4417030723