scholarly journals Rapid concentration and isotopic measurements of ultra-trace 235U fission products with comparison to an ORIGEN isotope depletion model

Talanta ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 120079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Roach ◽  
Emilie K. Fenske ◽  
David C. Glasgow ◽  
John D. Partridge ◽  
Tamara J. Keever ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (35) ◽  
pp. 8676-8681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan E. Groopman ◽  
David G. Willingham ◽  
Alex P. Meshik ◽  
Olga V. Pravdivtseva

Understanding the release and sequestration of specific radioactive signatures into the environment is of extreme importance for long-term nuclear waste storage and reactor accident mitigation. Recent accidents at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear reactors released radioactive 137Cs and 134Cs into the environment, the former of which is still live today. We have studied the migration of fission products in the Oklo natural nuclear reactor using an isotope imaging capability, the NAval Ultra-Trace Isotope Laboratory’s Universal Spectrometer (NAUTILUS) at the US Naval Research Laboratory. In Oklo reactor zone (RZ) 13, we have identified the most depleted natural U of any known material with a 235U/238U ratio of 0.3655 ± 0.0007% (2σ). This sample contains the most extreme natural burnup in 149Sm, 151Eu, 155Gd, and 157Gd, which demonstrates that it was sourced from the most active Oklo reactor region. We have discovered that fissionogenic Cs and Ba were captured by Ru metal/sulfide aggregates shortly following reactor shutdown. Isochrons from the Ru aggregates place their closure time at 4.98 ± 0.56 y after the end of criticality. Most fissionogenic 135Ba and 137Ba in the Ru migrated and was incorporated as Cs over this period. Excesses in 134Ba in the Ru point to the burnup of 133Cs. Cesium and Ba were retained in the Ru despite local volcanic activity since the reactor shutdown and the high level of activity during reactor operation.


1976 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 169-182
Author(s):  
B. Kuchowicz

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.


Author(s):  
R. J. Lauf

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.


Author(s):  
T. E. Mitchell ◽  
R. B. Schwarz

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.


2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isamu SATO ◽  
Toshio NAKAGIRI ◽  
Takashi HIROSAWA ◽  
Sinya MIYAHARA ◽  
Takashi NAMEKAWA

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-22
Author(s):  
M. I. Khamdeev ◽  
E. A. Erin

Physical parameters of electric arc plasma as well as their time dependences are calculated when analyzing phosphate precipitates of the fission products of irradiated nuclear fuel. Phosphate concentrates of the fission products are known for their complex chemical composition and high thermal and chemical stability. Hence, direct atomic emission spectral analysis of phosphate powders without transferring them into solutions is advisable. Different conditions of sample preparation and synthesis of the reference materials determine the different chemical forms of the elements to be determined. This, in turn, affects the kinetics of their evaporation in the electrode crate and excitation processes in the plasma. The known mechanisms of those processes cannot always be transferred to specific conditions of the given method of analysis thus entailing the necessity of studying the effect of the samples chemical composition on the results of determination, proper choice of spectroscopic carriers, detailed study of spectra excitation processes in spectral analysis, and analysis of the physical parameters of the electric arc plasma. We used the lines Zn I 307.206 nm and Zn I 307.589 nm to measure the effective temperature of the central hot sections of the arc in a range of4500 - 6500 K. NaCl, BaCl2 and NaCl + T1C1 were studied to reduce the effect of the sample elemental composition on excitation conditions of the spectra and their stabilization as a spectroscopic carrier. In control experiments we used carrier-free samples. The coincidence of the values of the plasma physical parameters within the measurement error not exceeding 20%, as well as the identity of the nature of the kinetic curves for samples of phosphate precipitates and synthetic reference materials prove their correctness. The result of the study substantiate correctness of the direct atomic-emission spectral procedure in analysis of phosphate concentrates of fission when using synthetic reference materials.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document