88

KREY AND FRIED

RESULTS
Gamma-decay Measurements
The gross gamma-decay rate of a Sedan air-filter sample is
plotted as individual points in Fig. 6. The decay rate of similar Small
Boy debris is normalized to these points and drawn as the solid and

19,000
_—

S

r

Oo

=

T_T

>
OU

1000

a

S
—

ve

|

a

a

~“

4

Po

100

300

500

700

900

1100

HR

Fig. 6—Gross gamma decay of Sedan and Small Boy air-filter sam-

ples. (July 6, 1962.)

dashed line in Fig. 6. It is clear that the gross gamma-decay rates of
the samples from both events are identical during the period of
measurement. Plotted on log paper, the data follow the expression
A= At

where A is the activity at time t after fission and A, is the activity at
unit time after fission.
The exponent of the time is greater than the —1.2 usually employed. It is interesting that the debris from two such widely different
events decay at exactly the same rate.

Gross Gamma Analyses
The plot of the gross gammaactivity vs. site location (from north

to south) for the Sedan mobile line is given in Fig. 7. The activity for

each postshot sample was corrected to 1000 hr on D+ 1 by uSing an
extrapolation of the Sedan gross gamma-decay curve (Fig. 6). The
background levels reflected in Fig. 7 are the activity of a preshot
air-filter sample assayed on D + 7 and the activity of a preshot fallout
collector assayed on D+ 10. Since the background samples were not
followed for decay, it is impossible to correct the data to a previous

time. The background may constitute a major part of the activity in
the first day of air sampling, but it is of little consequence in sub-

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