Pacific Proving Ground

Location, Sample, Radionuclide, and Other Variables Concentration, in Bq/kg or Bq/L 

ENIWETOK ATOLL, AUGUST 1964 Whole marine algae vs. whole marine fishes  

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Radionuclide concentrations in selected samples from the Pacific Proving Grounds... 

Military weapons tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the 1940s and 1950s resulted in greatly elevated local concentrations of radionuclides, and an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union in 1986 resulted in comparatively low concentrations of radionuclides dispersed over a wide geographical area. Both cases are briefly reviewed. 

Table 32.15 Radionuclide Concentrations in Selected Samples from the Pacific Proving Grounds (Concentrations are in becquerels/kg fresh weight [FW] or dry weight [DW].)...

Two substrate materials were used for most of the measurements. They were chosen as representative of two types of environmental material found in actual fallout. The first was a clay loam occurring in the Berkeley Hills, Calif. This is a more-or-less typical example of a silicate soil found in extensive areas in the temperate zones. The second material used was a calcium ferrite. This material has been observed in fallout resulting from nuclear explosions at the Pacific Proving Grounds where large amounts of calcium oxide, derived from the coral sand, and iron oxide, derived from towers, barges, or other structures, have been fused together. 

Soils may become contaminated from fallout associated with nuclear weapons tests, such as those conducted at the Trinity Site in southern New Mexico, the Pacific Proving Ground at the Enewetak Atoll, and the Nevada Test Site or with accidental, non-nuclear detonation of nuclear weapons, such as occurred at Palomares, Spain. Research facilities, such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, may release treated radioactive wastes under controlled conditions. Production facilities, such as the Hanford and Savannah River Plants and experimental reactor stations, for example, the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho, also released treated plutonium-bearing radioactive wastes under controlled conditions to soils (Hanson 1975). 

Military weapons tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the 1940s and 1950s resulted in greatly elevated local... 

ISODOSE LINES OF ESTIMATED PATTERN OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT Pacific Proving Grounds - March 1, 1954... 

The use of ICP-MS-based Pu isotope ratios is also well grounded in studies of other settings with local or regional contributions from non-fallout Pu. One well-known example is the mixing between global fallout Pu and isotopically heavier Pu from the Pacific Proving Ground (PPG). Yamada et al. [27] demonstrated the... 

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