In the immediate seconds after the detonation of a nuclear weapon a large plasma cloud is formed. This plasma cloud has a unique environment due to the pressure and temperatures that are achieved. To simulate the high temperature efforts, collaborations between Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been leveraged to setup an industrial grade plasma torch. This work will leverage the existing collaboration and laboratory facilities to investigate the plasma chemistry in real time to determine what processes of formation (e.g. oxide, nitride, sulfide, etc.) occur in different regions of the plasma (e.g. edge, center, etc.) using chemical compositions for the fallout recipes derived using the methods developed previously. After particulate matter is formed in the plasma region, the experimental chamber is set up to collect samples for investigation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and other similar morphological and surface chemistry characterization techniques. This talk will detail the early measurements that have been made in the UV-Vis region with regard to detection of elemental species.

Initial attempts into characterizing surrogate nuclear fireballs with UV-Vis spectroscopy

254th National Meeting (2017)

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