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The article discusses the relationship of the discovery of two isotopes of xenon based on the sampling of aircraft and ground-based collection sites with the detonation of North Korea on October 9, 2006. The discovery of xenon indicates that the detonation was a nuclear weapon test. Despite assertions of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush that the device was a plutonium-based weapon, an official close to the analysis process is somewhat less certain, suggesting it was most probably a plutonium device.