Gamma-Ray Measurements of a Soviet Cruise-Missile Warhead
Steve Fetter 1,
Thomas B. Cochran 2,
Lee Grodzins 3,
Harvey L. Lynch 4, and
Martin S. Zucker 5
1 School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
2 Senior Staff Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC 20005
3 Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
4 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, CA 94309
5 Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
A portable germanium detector was used to detect gamma-ray emissions from a nuclear warhead aboard the Soviet cruiser Slava. Measurements taken on the missile launch tube indicated the presence of uranium-235 and plutonium-239—the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons. With the use of this equipment, these isotopes probably could have been identified at a distance of 4 meters from the warhead. Such inspections do not reveal detailed information about the design of the warhead.
