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THE ESTIMATION OF PLUTONIUM CONCENTRATIONS IN SOIL
Author(s) -
And Keith Wise,
Kabaila Paul
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian journal of statistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.434
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-842X
pISSN - 0004-9581
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-842x.1989.tb00496.x
Subject(s) - plutonium , americium , environmental science , contamination , radioactive contamination , particulates , test site , grid , probabilistic logic , radiochemistry , radionuclide , nuclear physics , chemistry , statistics , mathematics , physics , geology , mining engineering , ecology , organic chemistry , biology , geometry
summary In this paper we examine the consequences, for statistical analysis and interpretation, of the particulate nature of radioactive contamination of a nuclear weapons test site. We propose a probabilistic model which incorporates the particulate nature of the contamination and which is simple enough to be statistically fitted to the data. Parameter estimation involves the reconciliation and combination of measurements of (a) 59.5 ke V gamma rays from americium‐241, a decay product of plutonium‐241, using a portable medium resolution NaI detector, on a regular survey grid at a test site and (b) 59.5 ke V radiation from soil samples obtained at grid points. The implications of the model for measurement of levels of contamination are considered.