4.3.6 Radiochemistry-Spectrometry Comparison. Calibrated spectrometer measurements
on samples of known fission content allow expected counting rates to be computed for the samples in any gamma counter for which the response is simply related to the gross photon frequency
and energy. Accordingly, the counting rate of the doghouse counter was computed forthe stang_
ard-cloud samples by application of the calibration curve (Reference 43) to the spectral lines

-and frequencies reported in Reference 57 and reproduced in Table B.20. These results are
compared with observations in Table 4.11, as well as with those obtained previously using
radiochemical-input information with the same calibration curve. Cloud samples were chosen,
because the same physical sample was counted both in the spectrometer and doghousecounter,
thereby avoiding uncertainties in composition or fission content introduced by aliquoting or other
handling processes.
‘
Several of the spectrometers used by the project were uncalibrated, that is, the relation be.
tween the absolute number of source photons emitted per unit time at energy E and the resulting
pulse-height spectrum was unknown. A comparison method of analysis was applied in these

cases, requiring the area of a semi-isolated reference photopeak, whose nuclide source was
known, toward the high-energy end of the spectrum. From this the number of photons per sec~
onds per fissions per area can be computed.

The area of the photopeak ascribed to the induced

product, when roughly corrected by assuming efficiency to be inversely proportional to energy,

yields photons per seconds per fissions. The latter quantity leads serially, via the decay Scheme,

to disintegration rate per fission at the time of HoeThe? - to atoms at zero time per
fission, which is the desired product/fission ratio. The?
ine at 0.76 Mev provides a
satisfactory reference from ~ 30 days to 2 years, but the gross spectra are usually not simple
enough to permit use of this procedure until an age of ~ ', year has been reached.

A few tracings of the recorded spectra appear in Figure 4.15, showing the peaks ascribed to

the nuclides of Table 3.20.

Wherever possible, spectra at different ages were examined toin-

sure proper half-life behavior, as in the Mn*illustration.

The Zuni cloud-sample spectrum at

226 days also showed the 1.7-Mev line of Sb'*4, though not reproduced in the figure. This line

was barely detectable in the How Island spectrum, shown for comparison, and the 0.60-Mev

line of Sb’ could not be detected atall.

Average energies, photon-decay rates and other gamma-ray properties have been computed
from the reduced spectral data in Table B.20 and appear in Table B.21.
4.3.7 Air Sampling.

As mentioned earlier, a prototype instrument known asthe high volume

filter (HVF) was proof-tested during the operation on the ship-array platforms. This instrument,
whose intended function was incremental aerosol sampling, is described in Section 2.2. All units
were oriented fore and aft in the bow region of the platform between the two IC’s shown in Figure
A.1. The sampling heads opened vertically upward, with the plane of the filter horizontal, and

the airflow rate was 10 ft/min overa filter area of 0.0670 ft?, producing a face velocity of 1.7
mph,

The instruments were manually operated according to a fixed routine from the secondary

control room of the ship; the first filter was opened when fallout was detected and left open until

the TIR reading on the deck reached ~1 r/hr; the second through the seventh filters were exposed for 14-hour intervals, and the last filter was kept open until it was evident that the fallout
rate had reached a very low level. This plan was intended to provide a sequence of relative air
concentration measurements during the fallout period, although when 1 r/hr was not reached

only one filter was exposed. Theoretically, removal of the dimethylterephalate filter material
by sublimation will allow recovery of an unaltered, concentrated sample; in practice however,
the sublimation process is so slow that it was not attempted for this operation.
After the sampling heads had been returned to NRDL, the filter material containing the activ-

ity was removed as completely as possible and measured in the 4-7 ionization chamber; these
data are summarized in Table B.36. It may be seen that the indicated arrival characteristics
generally correspond with those shown in Figures 3.1 to 3.4.

A comparative study was also made for someshots of the total numberof fissions per square
foot collected by HVF’s, IC’s, and OCC’s located on the sameplatform. Ionization-chamber
122

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