Seaborg's Plutonium?
Eric B. Norman, Keenan J. Thomas, Kristina E. Telhami
TL;DR
This paper reports the identification and quantification of Pu-239 in a historical sample, confirming it as the first weighable plutonium oxide sample described by Glenn Seaborg.
Contribution
It provides a precise analysis of a historical plutonium sample using passive x-ray and gamma-ray techniques, confirming its identity and mass.
Findings
Pu-239 detected with 2.0 ± 0.3 micrograms
No other radioactive isotopes found
Sample matches the first weighable Pu-239 described by Seaborg
Abstract
Passive x-ray and gamma-ray analysis was performed on UC Berkeley's EH&S Sample S338. The object was found to contain Pu-239 and no other radioactive isotopes. The mass of Pu-239 contained in this object was determined to be 2.0 +- 0.3 micrograms. These observations are consistent with the identification of this object being the 2.77-microgram plutonium oxide sample described by Glenn Seaborg and his collaborators as the first sample of Pu-239 that was large enough to be weighed.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsRadioactive contamination and transfer · Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques · Nuclear Physics and Applications