radiation. exposures
to the aircrews as they returned to base,
to decontamination ground crews.
as well as
The samples collected were radiologi-
cally “hot" and required special handling as they were taken from the aircraft and prepared for shipment to the laboratory for analysis.
DIAGNOSTIC MEASUREMENTS.
The explosion of a nuclear device is a pro-
gressive release of increasing amounts of nuclear radiation, some of which
directly escapes the device.
The rest of the radiant energy interacts
with the associated material of the device itself and is converted into
differing forms of radiation and into the kinetic energy of the remaining
materials in a small fraction of a second.
The intensely hot core then
reradiates, heating the surrounding air and creating a shock wave that
propagates Outward from the burst point.
The weapon diagnosticians used sophisticated techniques to follow the
Processes
that occur during the device explosion.
Detectors and collec-
tors were run up to, and sometimes inside, the device case so that the radiation being sampled could be directly channeled some distance away and
there be recorded by instrumentation designed to survive the ensuing blast.
To enhance its transport, radiation was conducted through pipes
evacuated or filled with special gases)
(often
from the device to stations where
recording instrumentation was located or where the information could be
retransmitted to a survivable recording station.
Radiation measurements are based upon the effects that result from the
interaction of the radiation with matter.
Fluorescence is one such effect.
Materials that fluoresce with radiation exposure were placed in view of
cameras or light detectors to provide a record of the variation of fluorescent intensity with time, thereby providing an indirect measurement of
the
radiation environment.
Other methods of detecting radiation
tion)
properties of earth materials,
materials are also used to baffle or
involve
water,
the shielding
(attenua-
and other substances.
These
collimate radiation to ensure that
radiation is directed toward the detecting instrument.
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