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RaLa Bayo Canyon Test Site, Los Alamos

Remote handling of a kilo curie source of radiolanthanum. The RaLa Experiment, or RaLa, was a series of tests during and after the Manhattan Project designed to study the behavior of converging shock waves to achieve the spherical implosion necessary for compression of the plutonium pit of the nuclear weapon. The experiment used significant amounts of a short-lived radioisotope lanthanum-140, a potent source of gamma radiation; the RaLa is a contraction of Radioactive Lanthanum. The method was proposed by Robert Serber and developed by the team of Bruno Rossi. The experiments were performed in the Bayo Canyon in a location designated TA-10 ("Technical Area 10") in Los Alamos County and close to the border with Santa Fe County, northeast from the Los Alamos townsite. The site had several fixed structures. The lanthanum-140 was being isolated in a radiochemistry building, TA-10-1. The TA-10-21 was the personnel building. There were four firing sites. The instruments for firing the explosives and recording the data were housed in two detonation control buildings (TA-10-13 and TA-10-15).
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Title:
RaLa Bayo Canyon Test Site, Los Alamos
Caption:
Remote handling of a kilo curie source of radiolanthanum. The RaLa Experiment, or RaLa, was a series of tests during and after the Manhattan Project designed to study the behavior of converging shock waves to achieve the spherical implosion necessary for compression of the plutonium pit of the nuclear weapon. The experiment used significant amounts of a short-lived radioisotope lanthanum-140, a potent source of gamma radiation; the RaLa is a contraction of Radioactive Lanthanum. The method was proposed by Robert Serber and developed by the team of Bruno Rossi. The experiments were performed in the Bayo Canyon in a location designated TA-10 ("Technical Area 10") in Los Alamos County and close to the border with Santa Fe County, northeast from the Los Alamos townsite. The site had several fixed structures. The lanthanum-140 was being isolated in a radiochemistry building, TA-10-1. The TA-10-21 was the personnel building. There were four firing sites. The instruments for firing the explosives and recording the data were housed in two detonation control buildings (TA-10-13 and TA-10-15).
Category:
Science: History
Credit:
Album / Science Source / Los Alamos National Laboratory
Releases:
? Model Release: No - ? Property Release: No
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Image size:
3600 x 2750 px | 28.3 MB
Print size:
30.5 x 23.3 cm | 12.0 x 9.2 in (300 dpi)
Keywords: