The containment of Soviet underground nuclear explosions

Адушкин, В. В.; Leith, William

doi:10.3133/ofr01312

Cited by 15 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 3 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“… The tropospheric concentration of HT with latitude from two transects across the Pacific Ocean between 16 December 1974 and 14 January 1975 (dark symbols, solid line) and 7 January 1976 and 7 February 1976 (open symbols, dotted line). HT concentrations are greater between 11 and 34°N compared with the more southerly stations in both transects probably due to contamination events associated with underground nuclear tests at NZTS on 29 August and 2 November 1974 and 23 August, 18 October and 21 October 1975 (Adushkin and Leith, 2001). A large HT release from the SRS on 31 December 1975 could also explain some of the Northern Hemisphere increase seen in the 1976 transect.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The closed inverted triangles mark large underground nuclear tests at NZTS and the open inverted triangle marks a large underground test at Amchitka Island, Alaska, USA. The test at NZTS on 14 October 1970 was estimated to have released 2 million Ci of radioactive materials (Adushkin and Leith, 2001).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The closed inverted triangles mark large underground nuclear tests at NZTS. The tests on 29 August 1974 and 21 October 1975 were reported to have released 4685 and 297, 297 Ci of radioactive materials, respectively (Adushkin and Leith, 2001).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once the HT is produced underground it can diffuse through the overlying soil and rock, or can move more quickly along both natural and bomb‐produced faults and fractures. It is important to note that almost all underground nuclear tests released radioactive gases to the atmosphere, even if they were considered fully “contained” (Adushkin and Leith, 2001). It has been shown that very marked peaks in tritium gas concentrations at Fairbanks, Alaska in 1973 are clearly correlated with large underground events at the Novaya Zemlya test site (NZTS), in the former USSR (Mason and Östlund, 1974).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A history of atmospheric tritium gas (HT) 1950-2002

Happell¹,

Östlund²,

Mason³

2004

Tellus B

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A B S T R A C T Data collected as a part of this study from and data from other studies from [1950][1951][1952][1953][1954][1955][1956][1957][1958][1959][1960][1961][1962][1963][1964][1965][1966][1967] show that the maximum atmospheric concentration of tritium gas (HT) occurred in the early to mid 1970s, which corresponds to the era of frequent, large underground nuclear tests. These data clearly show that the major source of HT to the atmosphere between 1962 and the early 1990s was the underground testing of nuclear weapons. Samples collected at both our Alaska and Miami stations clearly show marked increases in the autumn of each year between 1970 and 1975 that were associated with large underground explosions conducted by the former Soviet Union at the Novaya Zemlya test site. Other significant sources of HT include accidental releases of HT used in the manufacture and maintenance of nuclear weapons stockpiles, the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods and emissions from nuclear power plants. Since the early 1990s, when underground testing largely ceased, emission estimates from our data agree very well with United Nations estimates of worldwide releases from fuel reprocessing and nuclear power plants, suggesting that the nuclear power industry is now the major source of HT to the atmosphere.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A history of atmospheric tritium gas (HT) 1950-2002

Happell¹,

Östlund²,

Mason³

2004

Tellus B

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show abstract

“…The depth of burial (DOB) for a contained UNE is typically calculated as DOB ~ 120 m * Y 1/3 , where Y is the yield in kt, Olsen 1993;Adushkin and Leith, 2001; U.S. OTA, 1989]. The 120 m term may vary with rock type and moisture.…”

Section: Baseline Scenario -1 Kt Une 200m Dobmentioning

confidence: 99%