Search results for "plutonium"
showing 10 items of 38 documents
Uranium from German Nuclear Power Projects of the 1940s— A Nuclear Forensic Investigation
2015
Here we present a nuclear forensic study of uranium from German nuclear projects which used different geometries of metallic uranium fuel. Through measurement of the (230)Th/(234)U ratio, we could determine that the material had been produced in the period from 1940 to 1943. To determine the geographical origin of the uranium, the rare-earth-element content and the (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio were measured. The results provide evidence that the uranium was mined in the Czech Republic. Trace amounts of (236)U and (239)Pu were detected at the level of their natural abundance, which indicates that the uranium fuel was not exposed to any major neutron fluence.
Preparation of targets for the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA by electrochemical deposition and design of the TASCA target wheel assembly
2008
Abstract The Transactinide Separator and Chemistry Apparatus (TASCA) is a recoil separator with maximized transmission designed for performing advanced chemical studies as well as nuclear reaction and structure investigations of the transactinide elements ( Z >103) on a one-atom-at-a-time basis. TASCA will provide a very clean transactinide fraction with negligible contamination of lighter elements from nuclear side reactions in the target. For TASCA a new target chamber was designed and built at GSI including the rotating target wheel assembly ARTESIA for beam intensities up to 2 μA (particle). For the production of longer-lived isotopes of neutron-rich heavier actinide and transactinide e…
Risk of Lung Cancer Mortality in Nuclear Workers from Internal Exposure to Alpha Particle-emitting Radionuclides
2017
Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.
Understanding and Predicting Plutonium Alloys Aging: A Coupled Experimental and Theoretical Approach
2003
Understanding plutonium aging is a real challenge that requires developing very ambitious modeling and experiments. Examples of the different techniques developed and the physical values that can be reached are presented here.
Application of isotope-dilution laser ablation ICP-MS for direct determination of Pu concentrations in soils at pg g(-1) levels.
2003
The methods available for determination of environmental contamination by plutonium at ultra-trace levels require labor-consuming sample preparation including matrix removal and plutonium extraction in both nuclear spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. In this work, laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was applied for direct analysis of Pu in soil and sediment samples. Application of a LINA-Spark-Atomizer system (a modified laser ablation system providing high ablation rates) coupled with a sector-field ICP-MS resulted in detection limits as low as 3x10(-13) g g(-1) for Pu isotopes in soil samples containing uranium at a concentration of a few microg g(-1). …
Geochemical Interactions of Plutonium with Opalinus Clay Studied by Spatially Resolved Synchrotron Radiation Techniques
2017
Plutonium plays an important role within nuclear waste materials because of its long half-life and high radiotoxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate with high spatial resolution the reactivity of the more oxidized forms of Pu(V,VI) within Opalinus Clay (OPA) rock, a heterogeneous, natural argillaceous rock considered as a potential repository host. A combination of synchrotron based X-ray microprobe and bulk techniques was used to study the spatial distribution and molecular speciation of Pu within OPA after diffusion and sorption processes. Microscopic chemical images revealed a pronounced impact of geochemical heterogeneities concerning the reactivity of the natural barrier mat…
Thermodynamic studies of actinide complexes. 1. A reappraisal of the solution equilibria between plutonium(IV) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (E…
2007
Abstract A detailed reevaluation of the complexation equilibria of plutonium(IV) with the polyaminocarboxylic sequestering agent EDTA4− has been performed in 1 M (H,K)NO3 media at 298 K by means of visible absorption spectrophotometry and glass-electrode potentiometry at millimolar concentration levels. The high binding affinity even under strongly acidic conditions supports the exclusive formation of the neutral Pu(EDTA) complex over the range 0.01 ≤ [H+] ≤ 0.9 M with an apparent formation constant of log β110 = 25.8(1) at 0.9 M HNO3. Extrapolation to zero ionic strength using the SIT approach provides the first ever-reported NEA–TDB compliant estimate of β 110 0 ( log β 110 0 = 32.2 ( 3 )…
Observation of Collisional De-Excitation Phenomena in Plutonium
2022
Proceedings for the "virtual Workshop on the Atomic Structure of Actinides & Related Topics" conference submitted to the special issue of Atoms "Atomic Structure of the Heaviest Elements". A program of research towards the high-resolution optical spectroscopy of actinide elements for the study of fundamental nuclear structure is currently ongoing at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyväskylä. One aspect of this work is the development of a gas-cell-based actinide laser ion source using filament-based dispensers of long-lived actinide isotopes. We have observed prominent phenomena in the resonant laser ionization process specific to the gaseous envir…
In-gas-cell laser ionization studies of plutonium isotopes at IGISOL
2016
Abstract In-gas-cell resonance laser ionization has been performed on long-lived isotopes of Pu at the IGISOL facility, Jyvaskyla. This initiates a new programme of research towards high-resolution optical spectroscopy of heavy actinide elements which can be produced in sufficient quantities at research reactors and transported to facilities elsewhere. In this work a new gas cell has been constructed for fast extraction of laser-ionized elements. Samples of 238–240,242 Pu and 244 Pu have been evaporated from Ta filaments, laser ionized, mass separated and delivered to the collinear laser spectroscopy station. Here we report on the performance of the gas cell through studies of the mass spec…
Nuclear Forensics: A methodology applicable to Nuclear Security and to Non-Proliferation
2011
Nuclear Security aims at the prevention and detection of and response to, theft, sabotage, unauthorized access, illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material". Nuclear Forensics is a key element of nuclear security. Nuclear Forensics is defined as a methodology that aims at re-establishing the history of nuclear material of unknown origin. It is based on indicators that arise from known relationships between material characteristics and process history. Thus, nuclear forensics analysis includes the characterization of the material and correlation with production history. To this end, we can make use of parameters such as the isotopic composition of the nuclear material…