Mainz 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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MS: Fachverband Massenspektrometrie
MS 3: Actinide Analysis
MS 3.3: Vortrag
Dienstag, 3. März 2026, 12:00–12:15, N 6
Age dating of thermonuclear bomb fragments by combination of rL-SNMS and gamma spectroscopy — •Paul Hanemann1, Jan Schimansky1, Tobias Weißenborn1, Aaron Lehnert1, Manuel Raiwa1, Jixin Qiao2, Sven Nielsen2, and Clemens Walther1 — 1Leibniz Universität Hannover, IRS, Germany — 2Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark
In 1968 a US-bomber armed with thermonuclear warheads crashed close to the Thule airbase, releasing plutonium fragments into the environment. [1] Using the 241Pu 241Am chronometer it is possible to determine the production date of the Pu. For the determination of the atomic ratios of both isotopes in the past a complex and destructive radiochemical preparation of the sample and two measurements over the span of multiple years were necessary. [2] By utilizing the nondestructive isobar free measurements of resonant Laser Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry (rL-SNMS) and traditional gamma spectrometry we are able to age date multiple fragments of nuclear material from the Thule region in a comparatively fast way while keeping them intact for further analysis. The date of the chemical purification of the Pu in the samples was determined to be around the year 1960. This result agrees well with the existing values from the literature by Eriksson et al. [2]. Compared to [2], due to passing time nearly 3/4 of the 241Pu has decayed until our measurements, yet our results have comparable uncertainties. This high sensitivity shows a clear advantage of using this rL-SNMS based method for age dating. References: 1: DOI:10.1016/S1569-4860(91)80004-8; 2: DOI:10.1021/es800203f
Keywords: rL-SNMS; Thule; Nuclear Weapon; Age Dating