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Science 23 October 1987:
Vol. 238. no. 4826, pp. 512 - 514
DOI: 10.1126/science.238.4826.512
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Articles

Detection of Uranium from Cosmos-1402 in the Stratosphere

ROBERT LEIFER 1, Z. RUSSELL JUZDAN 1, W. R. KELLY 2, J. D. FASSETT 2, and K. R. EBERHARDT 3

1 Environmental Measurements Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, New York, NY 10014.
2 National Measurement Laboratory, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.
3 National Engineering Laboratory, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

The nuclear reactor from the Soviet radar reconnaissance satellite, Cosmos-1402, reentered the earth's atmosphere on 7 February 1983 and disintegrated over the South Atlantic Ocean. The reactor was powered by approximately 50 kilograms of uranium-235 (235U). In an effort to determine the fate of the reactor core, a series of aerosol samples were collected at altitudes between 27 and 36 kilometers in the Northern Hemisphere approximately 1.1 years later by high-altitude balloons. At an altitude of 36 kilometers a 53 ± 20 percent excess in the 235U concentration was measured. The total excess of 235U in the stratosphere was calculated to be 44 ± 15 kilograms.

Submitted on June 10, 1987
Accepted on July 24, 1987


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ganna-Ray Observations of Orbiting Nuclear Reactors.
J. R. PRIMACK (1989)
Science 244, 407-408
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