A New Yield Assessment for the Trinity Nuclear Test, 75 Years Later

Abstract

New measurement and assessment techniques have been applied to the radiochemical reevaluation of the Trinity Event. Thirteen trinitite samples were dissolved and analyzed using a combination of traditional decay counting methods and the mass spectrometry techniques. The resulting data were assessed using advanced simulation tools to afford a final yield determination of 24.8 ± 2 kt TNT equivalent, substantially higher than the previous U.S. Department of Energy released value of 21 kt.