Considerations for an automated system to detect 'hot' particles

摘要

The British government detonated seven nuclear weapons at Maralinga, South Australia, between 1956 and 1957 (indicated as 'Major Trial Sites' in Figure 1) and the contamination resulting from these tests has largely decayed and no longer poses a serious health risk. However, the British government also conducted many 'Minor Trials' at Maralinga between 1959 and 1963. These trials were safety tests and other experiments designed to develop the components of a nuclear weapon, and involved the dispersal of various radionuclides using conventional explosives. Most of these radionuclides were short-lived but four sites (TM 100, TM 101, Wewak and Taranaki) were still contaminated with plutonium (mainly ~(239)Pu with smaller amounts of ~(238)Pu, ~(240)Pu and ~(241)Pu) some thirty years later.