Separation of 138Cs or 89Rb from fission products using cold trap

Abstract In decommissioning sodium-cooled fast reactors, the operators can be exposed to radiation during dismantling of cold trap equipment (C/T). The C/T is higher dose equipment because the C/T trapped tritium of fission products during the operation to purify the sodium coolant. In this study, thermal decomposition temperature and rate of sodium hydride (NaH) were measured as a fundamental research for development of “thermolysis” process prior to the dismantling. We measured the thermal decomposition temperature and rate using NaH powder (95.3%, Sigma-Aldrich) in alumina pan with ThermoGravimetry-Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTA) instrument (STA2500 Regulus, NETZSCH Japan). The heating rates of TG-DTA were set to β = 2.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 K/min. The DTA showed endothermic reaction and the TG showed two-steps mass-loss over 580K. This first-step mass-loss was consistent with change of chemical composition of the NaH with heating (NaH → Na+1/2H2). The thermal decomposition temperature and rate were obtained from the onset temperature of the mass-loss and the simplified Kissinger plots, respectively. Furthermore, we set to the thermal decomposition temperature of around 590K, and the mass-loss rates were measured. As a result, over 590K, the thermal decomposition occurred actively, and showed good agreement with the estimation curves obtained by the simplified Kissinger plots. The thermal decomposition rate strongly depended on the heating temperature.

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CONTRIBUTION OF RADIOACTIVE FISSION PRODUCTS TO HEAT TRANSFERRED IN COLD TRAP

10.2172/4338106 ◽

1954 ◽

Author(s):

P N Haubenreich ◽

T W Leland

Keyword(s):

Fission Products ◽

Cold Trap

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Nuclear Processes Related to the Ap Stars and the Heaviest Chemical Elements

International Astronomical Union Colloquium ◽

10.1017/s0252921100080520 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 32 ◽

pp. 169-182

Author(s):

B. Kuchowicz

Keyword(s):

Nuclear Physics ◽

Nuclear Reactions ◽

Chemical Elements ◽

Fission Products ◽

Abundance Pattern ◽

Isotopic Shifts ◽

Processed Material ◽

R Process ◽

Ap Stars ◽

Nuclear Processes

SummaryIsotopic shifts in the lines of the heavy elements in Ap stars, and the characteristic abundance pattern of these elements point to the fact that we are observing mainly the products of rapid neutron capture. The peculiar A stars may be treated as the show windows for the products of a recent r-process in their neighbourhood. This process can be located either in Supernovae exploding in a binary system in which the present Ap stars were secondaries, or in Supernovae exploding in young clusters. Secondary processes, e.g. spontaneous fission or nuclear reactions with highly abundant fission products, may occur further with the r-processed material in the surface of the Ap stars. The role of these stars to the theory of nucleosynthesis and to nuclear physics is emphasized.

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Irradiation behavior of pyrolytic silicon carbide

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100074288 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 72-73

Author(s):

R. J. Lauf

Keyword(s):

Silicon Carbide ◽

Fission Products ◽

Thermodynamics And Kinetics ◽

Neutron Fluences ◽

Fuel Particles ◽

Sic Coatings ◽

Irradiation Behavior ◽

Kinetics Of ◽

Htgr Fuel

Fuel particles for the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) contain a layer of pyrolytic silicon carbide to act as a miniature pressure vessel and primary fission product barrier. Optimization of the SiC with respect to fuel performance involves four areas of study: (a) characterization of as-deposited SiC coatings; (b) thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions between SiC and fission products; (c) irradiation behavior of SiC in the absence of fission products; and (d) combined effects of irradiation and fission products. This paper reports the behavior of SiC deposited on inert microspheres and irradiated to fast neutron fluences typical of HTGR fuel at end-of-life.

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TEM studies of amorphization processes and amorphous structures

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100104303 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 448-449

Author(s):

T. E. Mitchell ◽

R. B. Schwarz

Keyword(s):

Amorphous Materials ◽

Fission Products ◽

Rapid Quenching ◽

Surface Films ◽

List Type ◽

Oxide Glasses ◽

Crystalline Materials ◽

Amorphous Structures ◽

Amorphous Surface ◽

Interfacial Films

Traditional oxide glasses occur naturally as obsidian and can be made easily by suitable cooling histories. In the past 30 years, a variety of techniques have been discovered which amorphize normally crystalline materials such as metals. These include [1-3]:Rapid quenching from the vapor phase.Rapid quenching from the liquid phase.Electrodeposition of certain alloys, e.g. Fe-P.Oxidation of crystals to produce amorphous surface oxide layers.Interdiffusion of two pure crystalline metals.Hydrogen-induced vitrification of an intermetal1ic.Mechanical alloying and ball-milling of intermetal lie compounds.Irradiation processes of all kinds using ions, electrons, neutrons, and fission products.We offer here some general comments on the use of TEM to study these materials and give some particular examples of such studies.Thin specimens can be prepared from bulk homogeneous materials in the usual way. Most often, however, amorphous materials are in the form of surface films or interfacial films with different chemistry from the substrates.

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Reduction of Specimen Contamination in Electron-Beam Instruments

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100092840 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 576-577

Author(s):

G. Lehmpfuhl ◽

P. J. Smith

Keyword(s):

Electron Beam ◽

Cold Trap ◽

Beam Diameter ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Scanning Transmission ◽

Hydrocarbon Molecules ◽

Electron Microscopes ◽

Combination Of Methods ◽

Convergent Beam ◽

Very High

Specimens being observed with electron-beam instruments are subject to contamination, which is due to polymerization of hydrocarbon molecules by the beam. This effect becomes more important as the size of the beam is reduced. In convergent-beam studies with a beam diameter of 100 Å, contamination was observed to grow on samples at very high rates. Within a few seconds needles began forming under the beam on both the top and the underside of the sample, at growth rates of 400-500 Å/s, severely limiting the time available for observation. Such contamination could cause serious difficulty in examining a sample with the new scanning transmission electron microscopes, in which the beam is focused to a few angstroms.We have been able to reduce the rate of contamination buildup by a combination of methods: placing an anticontamination cold trap in the sample region, preheating the sample before observation, and irradiating the sample with a large beam before observing it with a small beam.

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A conduction-cooled stage for high-resolution Cryo-SEM

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100131048 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 1282-1283

Author(s):

John G. Sheehan

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Liquid Nitrogen ◽

Mechanical Stability ◽

Cooling System ◽

Cold Trap ◽

Nitrogen Gas ◽

Particulate Suspensions ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Convection Cooling ◽

Styrene Butadiene

The goal is to examine with high resolution cryo-SEM aqueous particulate suspensions used in coatings for printable paper. A metal-coating chamber for cryo-preparation of such suspensions was described previously. Here, a new conduction-cooling system for the stage and cold-trap in an SEM specimen chamber is described. Its advantages and disadvantages are compared to a convection-cooling system made by Hexland (model CT1000A) and its mechanical stability is demonstrated by examining a sample of styrene-butadiene latex.In recent high resolution cryo-SEM, some stages are cooled by conduction, others by convection. In the latter, heat is convected from the specimen stage by cold nitrogen gas from a liquid-nitrogen cooled evaporative heat exchanger. The advantage is the fast cooling: the Hexland CT1000A cools the stage from ambient temperature to 88 K in about 20 min. However it consumes huge amounts of liquid-nitrogen and nitrogen gas: about 1 ℓ/h of liquid-nitrogen and 400 gm/h of nitrogen gas. Its liquid-nitrogen vessel must be re-filled at least every 40 min.

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