Forensics

A Pinch of Nuclear Forensics Can Change the Way We View Past Blasts

A new test developed by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico can potentially alter what we know about the nuclear tests done as a part of the Manhattan Project.

According to Popular Mechanics, the test involves using just a pinch of dirt. That small amount contains large amounts of information, which scientists used it to determine the true scope of the Trinity Test, the first nuclear detonation conducted by the United States in 1945.

In a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Susan Hanson, a nuclear chemist at Los Alamos and leader on the project, writes that soil can be tested for molybdenum, an element that is created as zirconium, which is used in many nuclear weapons, decays. By detecting the amounts in a soil sample, along with determining the amount of plutonium in the debris, Hanson and her team can determine how large a blast may have been.