Neutron discrepancies in the DS86 Hiroshima dosimetry system.

More than a decade has passed since a complete revision was initiated of the radiation doses received by survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. The new dosimetry system (DS86) was completed in 1986 and adopted shortly thereafter. Overall, DS86 was noted to be a clear improvement over the old dosimetry system.

Chlorine-36 dating of saline sediments: preliminary results from searles lake, california.

Measurements have been made of the ratios of chlorine-36 to chlorine in five halite samples from Searles Lake sediments, previously dated by carbon-14, thorium-230, and magnetostratigraphic techniques. The ages calculated from the chlorine ratios are generally concordant with those from the other methods, implying the constancy of the chlorine input ratio over the last million years.

Radiocarbon dating with electrostatic accelerators: dating of milligram samples.

The recently developed direct counting technique for radiocarbon atoms has been used to measure the relative numbers of such atoms in various geological samples which had earlier been dated by the beta-ray counting method. Sample weights ranged from 3.5 to 15 milligrams.

Radiocarbon dating using electrostatic accelerators: negative ions provide the key.

Mass spectrometric methods have long been suggested as ways of measuring (14)C/(12)C ratios for carbon dating. One problem has been to distinguish between (14)N and (14)C. With negative ions and a tandem electrostatic accelerator, the (14)N background is virtually absent and fewer than three (14)C atoms in 10(16) atoms of (12)C have been easily measured.