Analysis of 127Xe tracer measurements using a net counts method

Abstract

A suite of measurement systems were deployed as part of the Physical Experiment 1 series of experiments, which involved detonating chemical explosives along with radionuclide tracers in an underground cavity, at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in the United States. One of the radionuclide tracers, ¹²⁷Xe was released from the containment following the explosion and detected on a SAUNA Q_B sampler situated approximately 3.5 km away. The system uses a beta-gamma coincidence detector system to measure fission product radioisotopes of xenon relevant to nuclear explosion monitoring. In this work we use the coincidence measurement data to analyse and interpret the results from the SAUNA Q_B system, to calculate the measured ¹²⁷Xe activity concentration(s).