Enhancing detection of underground nuclear tests with unconventional tracers - Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les hydrosystèmes et les Sols
Article Dans Une Revue Pure and Applied Geophysics Année : 2024

Enhancing detection of underground nuclear tests with unconventional tracers

Résumé

Underground nuclear explosions (UNEs) generate important flows of air which carry tracers either initially present in the rock or soil or created by the explosion. These tracers can be observed not only at monitoring sites, but also at the test site. They could be used to enhance monitoring of radioxenon, widely used to detect UNEs, which can be impeded by several factors. We first developed a model for non-isothermal one-phase flow, heat and mass transfer, and tracer transport through fractured porous media. Taking as an example the conditions of the North-Korean site at Punggye-ri, we provide estimations for the emission of water vapor and CO2 at the test site, and for the emission of radon and xenon at the test site and at the Takasaki monitoring site in Japan. The influence of the geological conditions is investigated. It is shown feasible to enhance detection of radioxenon related to an underground nuclear explosion at a given monitoring station by detecting, a short time beforehand at the test site, the concomitant emission of water vapor by satellite imaging, providing low to moderate wind conditions. If only contributed from the soil, CO2 scavenged by the gas emitted following an UNE cannot be detected from satellite imaging. Although contributed from the rocks, including the vaporized cavity, radon cannot be detected at the monitoring site. For its own sake as for comparison, radioxenon is also examined in the same conditions as the studied tracers at the test site and at the monitoring site.
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Dates et versions

hal-04793040 , version 1 (20-11-2024)

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Aliaksei Pazdniakou, Valeri V. Mourzenko, Jean-François Thovert, Pierre Adler, Eric Pili. Enhancing detection of underground nuclear tests with unconventional tracers. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2024, ⟨10.1007/s00024-024-03595-w⟩. ⟨hal-04793040⟩
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