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Sample records for actinium

  1. Actinium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keller, C.

    1977-01-01

    There are only very few investigations dealing with the chemical and physical properties of actinium, the lanthanum homologue in the actinide series, 227 Ac, the only long-lived isotope can be produced in gram amounts only by neutron irradiation of 226 Ra, the amounts occurring in nature are too low for isolation (about 1 μg 227 Ac/1 uranium ore). Experimental work with 227 Ac gives rise to a lot of problems due to the radiation characteristics of the 227 Ac daughter nuclides. Therefore, the metal and the only ten solid compounds, prepared up to now, have been isolated in the microgram scale. Due to the high specific activity of 227 Ac, the preparation of a lot of compounds, e.g. metal-organic compounds seems to be very difficult, if not impossible. The properties of actinium in aqueous solutions have been deduced from experiments in the tracer scale only. The present investigations on actinium show that only the oxidation state + 3 exists - only radiopolarographic studies indicate the possibility of a lower valancy state (Ac 2+ ). - This review will give a critical and comprehensive description on the present knowledge about this element. The presently decreasing interest in the development of thermionic batteries using 227 Ac 2 O 3 radionuclide also implies that there will be only small progress in the chemistry of this radio-element in the near future. (orig.) [de

  2. Application of partition chromatography method for separation and analysis of actinium radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sinitsina, G.S.; Shestakova, I.A.; Shestakov, B.I.; Plyushcheva, N.A.; Malyshev, N.A.; Belyatskij, A.F.; Tsirlin, V.A.

    1979-01-01

    The method of partition chromatography is considered with the use of different extractants for the extraction of actinium-227, actinium-225 and actinium-228. It is advisable to extract actinium-227 from the irradiated radium with the help of D2FGFK. The use of 2DEGFK allows us to separate actinium-227 from alkaline and alkaline-earth elements. Amines have a higher radiative stability. An express-method has been developed for the identification of actinium-227 with TOA by its intrinsic α-emission in nonequilibrium preparations of irradiated radium-226 of small activity. Actinium-225 is extracted from uranium-233 with due regard for the fact that U, Th, and Ac are extracted differently by TBP from HNO 3 solutions. With the help of the given procedure one can reach the purifying coefficient of 10 4 . Actinium-228 is extracted from the radiummesothorium preparations by a deposition of decay products, including polonium-210 on the iron hydroxyde. Actinium-228 extraction from the mixture of radium radionuclides is performed by the partition chromatography method on D2EGFK. All the procedures for separation of actinium isotopes by the above methods are described

  3. Separation of protactinum, actinium, and other radionuclides from proton irradiated thorium target

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fassbender, Michael E.; Radchenko, Valery

    2018-04-24

    Protactinium, actinium, radium, radiolanthanides and other radionuclide fission products were separated and recovered from a proton-irradiated thorium target. The target was dissolved in concentrated HCl, which formed anionic complexes of protactinium but not with thorium, actinium, radium, or radiolanthanides. Protactinium was separated from soluble thorium by loading a concentrated HCl solution of the target onto a column of strongly basic anion exchanger resin and eluting with concentrated HCl. Actinium, radium and radiolanthanides elute with thorium. The protactinium that is retained on the column, along with other radionuclides, is eluted may subsequently treated to remove radionuclide impurities to afford a fraction of substantially pure protactinium. The eluate with the soluble thorium, actinium, radium and radiolanthanides may be subjected to treatment with citric acid to form anionic thorium, loaded onto a cationic exchanger resin, and eluted. Actinium, radium and radiolanthanides that are retained can be subjected to extraction chromatography to separate the actinium from the radium and from the radio lanthanides.

  4. Separation of actinium-227 from its daughter products by cationic resins technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nastasi, M.J.C.

    1976-01-01

    A method for separating actinium-227 from its daughter products based on ion exchange principle is shown. Radionuclides mixture in perchloric acid 8,5 N and chloridric acid 0,5 N medium pass by a cationic resin column. Thorium-227 and actinium-227, which are retained by the resin, are eluted with nitric acid 6 N which releases actinium-227 while oxalic acid 7% is used for thorium-227 elution [pt

  5. Separation of Actinium 227 from the uranium minerals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinez-Tarango, S.

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of this work was to separate Actinium 227, whose content is 18%, from the mineral carnotite found in Gomez Chihuahua mountain range in Mexico. The mineral before processing is is pre-concentrated and passed, first through anionic exchange resins, later the eluate obtained is passed through cationic resins. The resins were 20-50 MESH QOWEX and 100-200 MESH 50 X 8-20 in some cased 200-400 MESH AG 50W-X8, 1X8 in other cases. The eluates from the ionic exchange were electrodeposited on stainless steel polished disc cathode and platinum electrode as anode; under a current ODF 10mA for 2.5 to 5 hours and of 100mA for .5 of an hour. it was possible to identify the Actinium 227 by means of its descendents, TH-227 and RA-223, through alpha spectroscopy. Due to the radiochemical purity which the electro deposits were obtained the Actinium 227 was low and was not quantitatively determined. A large majority of the members of the natural radioactive series 3 were identified and even alpha energies reported in the literature with very low percentages of non-identified emissions were observed. We conclude that a more precise study is needed concerning ionic exchange and electrodeposit to obtain an Actinium 227 of radiochemical purity. (Author)

  6. Short history of radioactivity. No. XIII. The actinium and thorium series

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chalmers, T W

    1950-06-16

    Discussions of the actinium disintegration series (about 1905), the /sup 235/U or actinium series (as it is accepted today), the disintegration of thorium (about 1905), the thorium series in the modern form, and the 4n, 4n + 1, 4n + 2, and 4n + 3 series are presented.

  7. Production of Actinium-225 via High Energy Proton Induced Spallation of Thorium-232

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harvey, James T.; Nolen, Jerry; Vandergrift, George; Gomes, Itacil; Kroc, Tom; Horwitz, Phil; McAlister, Dan; Bowers, Del; Sullivan, Vivian; Greene, John

    2011-12-30

    The science of cancer research is currently expanding its use of alpha particle emitting radioisotopes. Coupled with the discovery and proliferation of molecular species that seek out and attach to tumors, new therapy and diagnostics are being developed to enhance the treatment of cancer and other diseases. This latest technology is commonly referred to as Alpha Immunotherapy (AIT). Actinium-225/Bismuth-213 is a parent/daughter alpha-emitting radioisotope pair that is highly sought after because of the potential for treating numerous diseases and its ability to be chemically compatible with many known and widely used carrier molecules (such as monoclonal antibodies and proteins/peptides). Unfortunately, the worldwide supply of actinium-225 is limited to about 1,000mCi annually and most of that is currently spoken for, thus limiting the ability of this radioisotope pair to enter into research and subsequently clinical trials. The route proposed herein utilizes high energy protons to produce actinium-225 via spallation of a thorium-232 target. As part of previous R and D efforts carried out at Argonne National Laboratory recently in support of the proposed US FRIB facility, it was shown that a very effective production mechanism for actinium-225 is spallation of thorium-232 by high energy proton beams. The base-line simulation for the production rate of actinium-225 by this reaction mechanism is 8E12 atoms per second at 200 MeV proton beam energy with 50 g/cm2 thorium target and 100 kW beam power. An irradiation of one actinium-225 half-life (10 days) produces {approx}100 Ci of actinium-225. For a given beam current the reaction cross section increases slightly with energy to about 400 MeV and then decreases slightly for beam energies in the several GeV regime. The object of this effort is to refine the simulations at proton beam energies of 400 MeV and above up to about 8 GeV. Once completed, the simulations will be experimentally verified using 400 MeV and 8 Ge

  8. The sorption of polonium, actinium and protactinium onto geological materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baston, G.M.N.; Berry, J.A.; Brownsword, M.; Heath, T.G.; Ilett, D.J.; McCrohon, R.; Tweed, C.J.; Yui, M.

    1999-01-01

    This paper describes a combined experimental and modeling program of generic sorption studies to increase confidence in the performance assessment for a potential high-level radioactive waste repository in Japan. The sorption of polonium, actinium and protactinium onto geological materials has been investigated. Sorption of these radioelements onto bentonite, tuff and granodiorite from equilibrated de-ionized water was studied under reducing conditions at room temperature. In addition, the sorption of actinium and protactinium was investigated at 60 C. Thermodynamic chemical modeling was carried out to aid interpretation of the results

  9. The sorption of polonium, actinium and protactinium onto geological materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baston, G.M.N.; Berry, J.A.; Brownsword, M.; Heath, T.G.; Ilett, D.J.; McCrohon, R.; Tweed, C.J.; Yui, M.

    1999-07-01

    This paper describes a combined experimental and modeling program of generic sorption studies to increase confidence in the performance assessment for a potential high-level radioactive waste repository in Japan. The sorption of polonium, actinium and protactinium onto geological materials has been investigated. Sorption of these radioelements onto bentonite, tuff and granodiorite from equilibrated de-ionized water was studied under reducing conditions at room temperature. In addition, the sorption of actinium and protactinium was investigated at 60 C. Thermodynamic chemical modeling was carried out to aid interpretation of the results.

  10. Application of ion exchange and extraction chromatography to the separation of actinium from proton-irradiated thorium metal for analytical purposes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radchenko, V; Engle, J W; Wilson, J J; Maassen, J R; Nortier, F M; Taylor, W A; Birnbaum, E R; Hudston, L A; John, K D; Fassbender, M E

    2015-02-06

    Actinium-225 (t1/2=9.92d) is an α-emitting radionuclide with nuclear properties well-suited for use in targeted alpha therapy (TAT), a powerful treatment method for malignant tumors. Actinium-225 can also be utilized as a generator for (213)Bi (t1/2 45.6 min), which is another valuable candidate for TAT. Actinium-225 can be produced via proton irradiation of thorium metal; however, long-lived (227)Ac (t1/2=21.8a, 99% β(-), 1% α) is co-produced during this process and will impact the quality of the final product. Thus, accurate assays are needed to determine the (225)Ac/(227)Ac ratio, which is dependent on beam energy, irradiation time and target design. Accurate actinium assays, in turn, require efficient separation of actinium isotopes from both the Th matrix and highly radioactive activation by-products, especially radiolanthanides formed from proton-induced fission. In this study, we introduce a novel, selective chromatographic technique for the recovery and purification of actinium isotopes from irradiated Th matrices. A two-step sequence of cation exchange and extraction chromatography was implemented. Radiolanthanides were quantitatively removed from Ac, and no non-Ac radionuclidic impurities were detected in the final Ac fraction. An (225)Ac spike added prior to separation was recovered at ≥ 98%, and Ac decontamination from Th was found to be ≥ 10(6). The purified actinium fraction allowed for highly accurate (227)Ac determination at analytical scales, i.e., at (227)Ac activities of 1-100 kBq (27 nCi to 2.7 μCi). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Amides with nitrogenous heterocyclic substituent, their manufacturing process and their use to draw out selectively Actinium series (III) and to separate them in particular from Lanthanides (III)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuillerdier, C.; Musikas, C.

    1993-01-01

    Present invention is concerned with new amides with nitrogenous heterocyclic substituent utilizable to separate trivalent actinium series from trivalent lanthanides. In these molecules, it is possible to obtain particularly covalent liaison which has more affinity with 5f series, that is to say actinium series; included a manufacturing process for these amides with nitrogenous heterocyclic substituent

  12. Analysis of the gamma spectra of the uranium, actinium, and thorium decay series

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Momeni, M.H.

    1981-09-01

    This report describes the identification of radionuclides in the uranium, actinium, and thorium series by analysis of gamma spectra in the energy range of 40 to 1400 keV. Energies and absolute efficiencies for each gamma line were measured by means of a high-resolution germanium detector and compared with those in the literature. A gamma spectroscopy method, which utilizes an on-line computer for deconvolution of spectra, search and identification of each line, and estimation of activity for each radionuclide, was used to analyze soil and uranium tailings, and ore

  13. Actinium-225 and Bismuth-213 Alpha Particle Immunotherapy of Cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scheinberg, D.

    2013-01-01

    Nuclides with appropriate half-lives and emission characteristics that would be potent enough to kill neoplastic cells in the small quantities that reach targets in vivo, include the high linear energy transfer (LET) alpha emitters such as Actinium-225 and Bi-213. We developed methods for the attachment of radiometals via bifunctional chelates to monoclonal antibodies (mAb) without loss of immunoreactivity. We developed alphaemitting Bi-213 lintuzumab constructs, characterized and qualified them in preclinical models, and took them into human clinical trials in patients with AML. Safety, anti-leukemic activity, and complete responses (CR’s) have been demonstrated through phase 2 trilas. Bi-213 is produced in a portable small generator device based on Ac- 225 in the hospital nuclear medicine lab. The isotope is then purified, attached to the antibody, and the product is qualified and processed. Despite this success, the major obstacle to the widespread use of these drugs remains the short 213 Bi half-life (46 minutes), which poses a large logistical hurdle before injection and limits its delivery to only the most accessible cancer cells after injection

  14. Developments towards in-gas-jet laser spectroscopy studies of actinium isotopes at LISOL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raeder, S.; Bastin, B.; Block, M.; Creemers, P.; Delahaye, P.; Ferrer, R.; Fléchard, X.; Franchoo, S.; Ghys, L.; Gaffney, L.P.; Granados, C.; Heinke, R.; Hijazi, L.

    2016-01-01

    To study exotic nuclides at the borders of stability with laser ionization and spectroscopy techniques, highest efficiencies in combination with a high spectral resolution are required. These usually opposing requirements are reconciled by applying the in-gas-laser ionization and spectroscopy (IGLIS) technique in the supersonic gas jet produced by a de Laval nozzle installed at the exit of the stopping gas cell. Carrying out laser ionization in the low-temperature and low density supersonic gas jet eliminates pressure broadening, which will significantly improve the spectral resolution. This article presents the required modifications at the Leuven Isotope Separator On-Line (LISOL) facility that are needed for the first on-line studies of in-gas-jet laser spectroscopy. Different geometries for the gas outlet and extraction ion guides have been tested for their performance regarding the acceptance of laser ionized species as well as for their differential pumping capacities. The specifications and performance of the temporarily installed high repetition rate laser system, including a narrow bandwidth injection-locked Ti:sapphire laser, are discussed and first preliminary results on neutron-deficient actinium isotopes are presented indicating the high capability of this novel technique.

  15. Developments towards in-gas-jet laser spectroscopy studies of actinium isotopes at LISOL

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Raeder, S., E-mail: s.raeder@gsi.de [KU Leuven, Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Helmholtz-Institut Mainz, 55128 Mainz (Germany); GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt (Germany); Bastin, B. [GANIL, CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, B.P. 55027, 14076 Caen (France); Block, M. [Helmholtz-Institut Mainz, 55128 Mainz (Germany); GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt (Germany); Institut für Kernchemie, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, 55128 Mainz (Germany); Creemers, P. [KU Leuven, Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Delahaye, P. [GANIL, CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, B.P. 55027, 14076 Caen (France); Ferrer, R. [KU Leuven, Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Fléchard, X. [LPC Caen, ENSICAEN, Université de Caen, CNRS/IN2P3, Caen (France); Franchoo, S. [Institute de Physique Nucléaire (IPN) d’Orsay, 91406 Orsay, Cedex (France); Ghys, L. [KU Leuven, Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); SCK-CEN, Belgian Nuclear Research Center, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol (Belgium); Gaffney, L.P.; Granados, C. [KU Leuven, Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Heinke, R. [Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, 55128 Mainz (Germany); Hijazi, L. [GANIL, CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, B.P. 55027, 14076 Caen (France); and others

    2016-06-01

    To study exotic nuclides at the borders of stability with laser ionization and spectroscopy techniques, highest efficiencies in combination with a high spectral resolution are required. These usually opposing requirements are reconciled by applying the in-gas-laser ionization and spectroscopy (IGLIS) technique in the supersonic gas jet produced by a de Laval nozzle installed at the exit of the stopping gas cell. Carrying out laser ionization in the low-temperature and low density supersonic gas jet eliminates pressure broadening, which will significantly improve the spectral resolution. This article presents the required modifications at the Leuven Isotope Separator On-Line (LISOL) facility that are needed for the first on-line studies of in-gas-jet laser spectroscopy. Different geometries for the gas outlet and extraction ion guides have been tested for their performance regarding the acceptance of laser ionized species as well as for their differential pumping capacities. The specifications and performance of the temporarily installed high repetition rate laser system, including a narrow bandwidth injection-locked Ti:sapphire laser, are discussed and first preliminary results on neutron-deficient actinium isotopes are presented indicating the high capability of this novel technique.

  16. Investigation of the origin of elements of the uranium-235 family noticed in excess around the EL4 experimental nuclear reactor during its dismantling. Site of the Monts d'Arree - Brennilis (29) power plant. Years 2007-2008. Report and appendices with results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-02-01

    The presence of actinium-227 has been noticed in the Mont d'Arree region (Finistere district) and such a presence in the environment had never been reported before. Thus, a study has been performed to investigate the origin of this element: about 300 samples have been analysed. After an indication of the investigation chronology, the report outlines that there is no relationship between the excess of actinium-227 and land amendment or embankments, that there is no obvious relationship between this presence and radioactive liquid effluents or atmospheric effluents from the Brennilis nuclear site. It shows that there is an obvious relationship with the radiological quality. It states that this excess of actinium 227 is related to the management of rain waters about the Brennilis site. An appendix specifies the location, nature and agenda of samplings (bio-indicators, samplings in sludge, soils, food and tap water, aquatic foams and sediments, ponds, wet lands, and at the vicinity of the power plant channel), presents detailed results obtained by gamma spectrometry, and measurement equipment and methods

  17. Review on transactinium isotope build-up and decay in reactor fuel and related sensitivities to cross section changes and results and main conclusions of the IAEA-Advisory Group Meeting on Transactinium Nuclear Data, held at Karlsruhe, November 1975

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuesters, H.; Lalovic, M.

    1976-04-01

    In this report a review is given on the actinium isotope build-up and decay in LWRs, LMFBRs and HTRs. The dependence of the corresponding physical aspects on reactor type, fuel cycle strategy, calculational methods and cross section uncertainties is discussed. Results from postirradiation analyses and from integral experiments in fast zero power assemblies are compared with theoretical predictions. Some sensitivity studies about the influence of actinium nuclear data uncertainties on the isotopic concentration, decay heat, and the radiation out-put in fuel and waste are presented. In a second part, the main results of the IAEA-Advisory Group Meeting on Transactinium Nuclear Data are summarized and discussed. (orig.) [de

  18. Behaviour of uranium series radionuclides in surface water (Crouzille, Limousin). Geochemical implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moulin, J.

    2008-06-01

    Understanding natural radionuclides behaviour in surface water is a required step to achieve uranium mine rehabilitation and preserve water quality. The first objective of this thesis is to determine which are the radionuclides sources in a drinking water reservoir. The second objective is to improve the knowledge about the behaviour of uranium series radionuclides, especially actinium. The investigated site is a brook (Sagnes, Limousin, France) which floods a peat bog contaminated by a former uranium mine and which empties into the Crouzille lake. It allows studying radionuclides transport in surface water and radionuclides retention through organic substance or water reservoir. Radionuclides distribution in particulate, colloidal and dissolved phases is determined thanks to ultra-filtrations. Gamma spectrometry allows measuring almost all natural radionuclides with only two counting stages. However, low activities of 235 U series radionuclides impose the use of very low background well-type Ge detectors, such as those of the Underground Laboratory of Modane (France). Firstly, this study shows that no or few radionuclides are released by the Sagnes peat bog, although its radioactivity is important. Secondly, it provides details on the behaviour of uranium series radionuclides in surface water. More specifically, it provides the first indications of actinium solubility in surface water. Actinium's behaviour is very close to uranium's even if it is a little less soluble. (author)

  19. Study of the origin of elements of the uranium-235 family observed in excess in the vicinity of the experimental nuclear EL4 reactor under dismantling. Lessons got at this day and conclusions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-01-01

    This study resumes the discovery of an excess of actinium 227 found around by EL4 nuclear reactor actually in dismantling. The search for the origin of this excess revealed a real inquiry of investigation during three years. Because a nuclear reactor existed in this area a particular attention will have concerned this region. The doubt became the line of conduct to find the answer to the human or natural origin of this excess. Finally and against any evidence, it appears that the origin of this phenomenon was natural, consequence of the particular local geology. The detail of the different investigations is given: search of a possible correlation with the composition of elevations constituent of lanes, search (and underlining) of new sites in the surroundings of the Rusquec pond and the Plouenez station, study of the atmospheric deposits under winds of the nuclear power plant and in the east direction, search of a possible relationship with the gaseous effluents of the nuclear power plant in the past, historical study of radioactive effluents releases in the fifty last years by the analysis of the sedimentary deposits in the Saint-Herbiot reservoir, search of a possible correlation between the excess of actinium 227 and the nuclear power plant activity; search of a possible correlation with a human activity without any relationship with the nuclear activities, search of a correlation with the underground waters, search of a correlation with the geological context, collect of information on the possible transfers in direction of the food chain, determination of the radiological composition of the underground waters ( not perturbed by human activity), search of the cause of an excess of actinium 227 in the old channel of liquid effluents release of the nuclear power plant. The results are given and discussed. And contrary to all expectations the origin of the excess of actinium 227 is completely natural. (N.C.)

  20. Study of the origin of elements of the uranium-235 family observed in excess in the vicinity of the experimental nuclear EL4 reactor under dismantling. Lessons got at this day and conclusions; Etude de l'origine des elements de la famille de l'uranium-235 observes en exces dans les environs du reacteur nucleaire experimental EL4 en cours de demantelement. Enseignements retires a ce jour et conclusion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2007-07-01

    This study resumes the discovery of an excess of actinium 227 found around by EL4 nuclear reactor actually in dismantling. The search for the origin of this excess revealed a real inquiry of investigation during three years. Because a nuclear reactor existed in this area a particular attention will have concerned this region. The doubt became the line of conduct to find the answer to the human or natural origin of this excess. Finally and against any evidence, it appears that the origin of this phenomenon was natural, consequence of the particular local geology. The detail of the different investigations is given: search of a possible correlation with the composition of elevations constituent of lanes, search (and underlining) of new sites in the surroundings of the Rusquec pond and the Plouenez station, study of the atmospheric deposits under winds of the nuclear power plant and in the east direction, search of a possible relationship with the gaseous effluents of the nuclear power plant in the past, historical study of radioactive effluents releases in the fifty last years by the analysis of the sedimentary deposits in the Saint-Herbiot reservoir, search of a possible correlation between the excess of actinium 227 and the nuclear power plant activity; search of a possible correlation with a human activity without any relationship with the nuclear activities, search of a correlation with the underground waters, search of a correlation with the geological context, collect of information on the possible transfers in direction of the food chain, determination of the radiological composition of the underground waters ( not perturbed by human activity), search of the cause of an excess of actinium 227 in the old channel of liquid effluents release of the nuclear power plant. The results are given and discussed. And contrary to all expectations the origin of the excess of actinium 227 is completely natural. (N.C.)

  1. Sorption studies of radioelements on geological materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berry, John A.; Yui, Mikazu; Kitamura, Akira

    2007-11-01

    Batch sorption experiments have been carried out to study the sorption of uranium, technetium, curium, neptunium, actinium, protactinium, polonium, americium and plutonium onto bentonite, granodiorite and tuff. Mathematical modelling using the HARPHRQ program and the HATCHES database was carried out to predict the speciation of uranium and technetium in the equilibrated seawater, and neptunium, americium and plutonium in the rock equilibrated water. Review of the literature for thermodynamic data for curium, actinium, protactinium and polonium was carried out. Where sufficient data were available, predictions of the speciation and solubility were made. This report is a summary report of the experimental work conducted by AEA Technology during April 1991-March 1998, and the main results have been presented at Material Research Society Symposium Proceedings and published as proceedings of them. (author)

  2. Formation and evolution of ultrafine particles produced by radiolysis and photolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Madelaine, G.J.; Perrin, M.L.; Renoux, A.

    1980-01-01

    Results are presented, concerning the formation, the size distribution, and the behavior of ultrafine particles produced by alpha disintegration of actinium and uv irradiation in filtered and natural atmospheric air. The characterization of these particles is obtained by electrical aerosol analyzer and diffusion battery method. Measurements are made in the range between 0.003 and 0.5 micrometer. Some qualitative indications are obtained on the different mechanisms which govern the evolution of ultrafine particles in the atmosphere (nucleation, coagulation, and condensation). It is now well established that the photo-oxydation of SO 2 in the atmosphere leads to the production of sulphuric acid and of sulphate, which are usually found in the form of submicronic particles. This paper concerns the evolution of ultrafine particles generated in the presence of a preexisting aerosol. They are either instantaneously produced by the alpha disintegrations of actinium 219 or continuously produced by the transformation of SO 2 under uv irradiation

  3. Actinide metals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, Paul L. [Geochem Australia, Kiama, NSW (Australia); Ekberg, Christian [Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Goeteborg (Sweden). Nuclear Chemistry/Industrial Materials Recycling

    2016-07-01

    All isotopes of actinium are radioactive and exist in aqueous solution only in the trivalent state. There have been very few studies on the hydrolytic reactions of actinium(III). The hydrolysis reactions for uranium would only be important in alkaline pH conditions. Thermodynamic parameters for the hydrolysis species of uranium(VI) and its oxide and hydroxide phases can be determined from the stability and solubility constants. The hydrolytic behaviour of neptunium(VI) is quite similar to that of uranium(VI). The solubility constant of NpO{sub 2}OH(am) has been reported a number of times for both zero ionic strength and in fixed ionic strength media. Americium can form four oxidation states in aqueous solution, namely trivalent, tetravalent, pentavalent and hexavalent. Desire, Hussonnois and Guillaumont determined stability constants for the species AmOH{sup 2+} for the actinides, plutonium(III), americium(III), curium(III), berkelium(III) and californium(III) using a solvent extraction technique.

  4. Status of liquid metal reactor development in the United States of America

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griffith, J.D.; Horton, K.E.

    1991-01-01

    An existing network of government and industry research facilities and engineering test centers in the United States is currently providing test capabilities and the technical expertise required to conduct an aggressive advanced reactor development program. Subsequent to the directive to shut down the Fast Flux Test Facility in early 1990, a variety of activities were undertaken to provide support for continued operation. The United States has made substantial progress in achieving ALMR program objectives. The metal fuel cycle is designed to recycle and burn its own actiniums, and has the potential to be a very effective burner of actiniums generated in the LWRs. The current emphasis in the IFR Program is on the comprehensive development of the IFR (Integral Fast Reactor) technology, to be followed by a period of technology demonstration which would verify the economic feasibility of the concept. The United States has been active in international cooperative activities in the fast reactor sector since 1969. (author). 11 figs, 1 tab

  5. Actinide metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, Paul L.; Ekberg, Christian

    2016-01-01

    All isotopes of actinium are radioactive and exist in aqueous solution only in the trivalent state. There have been very few studies on the hydrolytic reactions of actinium(III). The hydrolysis reactions for uranium would only be important in alkaline pH conditions. Thermodynamic parameters for the hydrolysis species of uranium(VI) and its oxide and hydroxide phases can be determined from the stability and solubility constants. The hydrolytic behaviour of neptunium(VI) is quite similar to that of uranium(VI). The solubility constant of NpO 2 OH(am) has been reported a number of times for both zero ionic strength and in fixed ionic strength media. Americium can form four oxidation states in aqueous solution, namely trivalent, tetravalent, pentavalent and hexavalent. Desire, Hussonnois and Guillaumont determined stability constants for the species AmOH 2+ for the actinides, plutonium(III), americium(III), curium(III), berkelium(III) and californium(III) using a solvent extraction technique.

  6. DISSOLVED CONCENTRATION LIMITS OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    P. Bernot

    2005-07-13

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate dissolved concentration limits (also referred to as solubility limits) of elements with radioactive isotopes under probable repository conditions, based on geochemical modeling calculations using geochemical modeling tools, thermodynamic databases, field measurements, and laboratory experiments. The scope of this activity is to predict dissolved concentrations or solubility limits for elements with radioactive isotopes (actinium, americium, carbon, cesium, iodine, lead, neptunium, plutonium, protactinium, radium, strontium, technetium, thorium, and uranium) relevant to calculated dose. Model outputs for uranium, plutonium, neptunium, thorium, americium, and protactinium are provided in the form of tabulated functions with pH and log fCO{sub 2} as independent variables, plus one or more uncertainty terms. The solubility limits for the remaining elements are either in the form of distributions or single values. Even though selection of an appropriate set of radionuclides documented in Radionuclide Screening (BSC 2002 [DIRS 160059]) includes actinium, transport of Ac is not modeled in the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA) model because of its extremely short half-life. Actinium dose is calculated in the TSPA-LA by assuming secular equilibrium with {sup 231}Pa (Section 6.10); therefore, Ac is not analyzed in this report. The output data from this report are fundamental inputs for TSPA-LA used to determine the estimated release of these elements from waste packages and the engineered barrier system. Consistent modeling approaches and environmental conditions were used to develop solubility models for the actinides discussed in this report. These models cover broad ranges of environmental conditions so they are applicable to both waste packages and the invert. Uncertainties from thermodynamic data, water chemistry, temperature variation, and activity coefficients have been quantified or

  7. DISSOLVED CONCENTRATION LIMITS OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    P. Bernot

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate dissolved concentration limits (also referred to as solubility limits) of elements with radioactive isotopes under probable repository conditions, based on geochemical modeling calculations using geochemical modeling tools, thermodynamic databases, field measurements, and laboratory experiments. The scope of this activity is to predict dissolved concentrations or solubility limits for elements with radioactive isotopes (actinium, americium, carbon, cesium, iodine, lead, neptunium, plutonium, protactinium, radium, strontium, technetium, thorium, and uranium) relevant to calculated dose. Model outputs for uranium, plutonium, neptunium, thorium, americium, and protactinium are provided in the form of tabulated functions with pH and log fCO 2 as independent variables, plus one or more uncertainty terms. The solubility limits for the remaining elements are either in the form of distributions or single values. Even though selection of an appropriate set of radionuclides documented in Radionuclide Screening (BSC 2002 [DIRS 160059]) includes actinium, transport of Ac is not modeled in the total system performance assessment for the license application (TSPA-LA) model because of its extremely short half-life. Actinium dose is calculated in the TSPA-LA by assuming secular equilibrium with 231 Pa (Section 6.10); therefore, Ac is not analyzed in this report. The output data from this report are fundamental inputs for TSPA-LA used to determine the estimated release of these elements from waste packages and the engineered barrier system. Consistent modeling approaches and environmental conditions were used to develop solubility models for the actinides discussed in this report. These models cover broad ranges of environmental conditions so they are applicable to both waste packages and the invert. Uncertainties from thermodynamic data, water chemistry, temperature variation, and activity coefficients have been quantified or otherwise

  8. Kinetics of radioisotope exchange between brine and rock in a geothermal system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hammond, D.E.; Zukin, J.G.; Teh-Lung Ku

    1988-01-01

    A wide range of isotopes in the /sup 238/U, /sup 235/U, and /sup 232/Th decay chains was measured in geothermal brines collected from two production zones at 1898 and 3220 m in the Salton Sea Scientific Drilling Project well. High concentrations of radium, radon, and lead isotopes are generated and maintained by the input of these isotopes from solid phases into brine by both recoil and leaching processes, by the high chloride content of the brine which complexes radium and lead, and by the apparent absence of suitable unoccupied adsorption sites. In contrast, uranium, thorium, actinium, bismuth, and polonium isotopes all have low concentrations due to their efficient sorption from brine to rock. Measurements of short-lived isotopes in these decay series yield insights regarding the mechanisms controlling radioisotope exchange, and they permit estimation of rates of brine-rock interaction. For example, the /sup 228/Ac//sup 228/Ra activity ratio of 0.2 in brines indicates that the mean residence time of actinium in solution before sorption onto solid surfaces is less than 2.5 hours

  9. LASL experience in decontamination of the environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahlquist, A.J.

    1981-01-01

    This discussion represents one part of a major effort in soil decontamination at the Los Alamos site. A contaminated industrial waste line in the Los Alamos townsite was removed, and a plutonium incineration facility, and a filter building contaminated with actinium-227 were dismantled. The former plutonium handling facility has been decontaminated, and canyons and an old firing site contaminated with strontium-90 have been surveyed

  10. Determination of radionuclides in discharged water from gold ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Long-lived radionuclides from the Uranium-, Thorium- and Actinium-decay chains in the discharged water into the environment were radiochemically separated and the activity concentrations determined for 238U-series ranged from 3.8 ± 1.5 to 178 ± 19 mBqL-1, 232Th-series ranged from < 2.0 to 47.8 ± 7.3 mBqL-1 and ...

  11. An aerial radiological survey of the Sandia National Laboratories and surrounding area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riedhauser, S.R.

    1994-06-01

    A team from the Remote Sensing Laboratory conducted an aerial radiological survey of the area surrounding the Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during March and April 1993. The survey team measured the terrestrial gamma radiation at the site to determine the levels of natural and man-made radiation. This survey includes the areas covered by a previous survey in 1981. The results of the aerial survey show a background exposure rate which varies between 5 and 18 μR/h plus an approximate 6 μR/h contribution from cosmic rays. The major radioactive isotopes found in this survey were: potassium-40, thallium-208, bismuth-214, and actinium-228, which are all naturally-occurring isotopes, and cobalt-60, cesium-137, and excess amounts of thallium-208 and actinium-228, which are due to human actions in the survey area. In regions away from man-made activity, the exposure rates inferred from this survey's gamma ray measurements agree almost exactly with the exposure rates inferred from the 1981 survey. In addition to the aerial measurements, another survey team conducted in situ and soil sample radiation measurements at three sites within the survey perimeter. These ground-based measurements agree with the aerial measurements within ± 5%

  12. Radiometric determination of {sup 226}, {sup 228}Ac and {sup 40}K in fly ashes and building materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harangozo, M; Toelgyessy, J; Lesny, J; Cik, G [Slovak Technical Univ., Bratislava (Slovakia). Fac. of Chemical Technology, Dept. of Environmental Science

    1996-12-31

    In this paper the activities of radium-226, actinium-228 and potassium-40 in fly ashes and building materials of Slovakia were determined. Different origin of coals combusted results in significant differences in specific activities of radium-226 and activities-228 of measured fly-ashes and building materials. The knowledge of the specific activity of selected nuclides contained in fly-ashes is, therefore, very important and in specific cases can indicate the possibilities of their further technological use. (J.K.) 1 tab., 3 refs.

  13. A Radium-223 microgenerator from cyclotron-produced trace Actinium-227

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abou, Diane S.; Pickett, Juile; Mattson, John E.; Thorek, Daniel L.J.

    2017-01-01

    The alpha particle emitter Radium-223 dichloride ("2"2"3RaCl_2) has recently been approved for treatment of late-stage bone metastatic prostate cancer. There is considerable interest in studying this new agent outside of the clinical setting, however the supply of "2"2"3Ra is limited and expensive. We have engineered a "2"2"3Ra microgenerator using traces of "2"2"7Ac previously generated from cyclotron-produced "2"2"5Ac. Radiochemically pure "2"2"3RaCl_2 was made, characterized, evaluated in vivo, and the source was recovered in high yield for regeneration of the microgenerator. - Highlights: • A "2"2"3Ra microgenerator was built using residual "2"2"7Ac from cyclotron-produced "2"2"5Ac. • Following "2"2"5Ac decay, the residual "2"2"7Ac was processed into pure "2"2"3Ra. • "2"2"7Ac and "2"2"7Th were recovered in high yield for a permanent supply of "2"2"3Ra. • Clinically supplied and generator-produced "2"2"3Ra have equivalent in vivo distribution. • Microdose column provides sufficient material for research use.

  14. Purification of cerium, neodymium and gadolinium for low background experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boiko R.S.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Cerium, neodymium and gadolinium contain double beta active isotopes. The most interesting are 150Nd and 160Gd (promising for 0ν2β search, 136Ce (2β+ candidate with one of the highest Q2β. The main problem of compounds containing lanthanide elements is their high radioactive contamination by uranium, radium, actinium and thorium. The new generation 2β experiments require development of methods for a deep purification of lanthanides from the radioactive elements. A combination of physical and chemical methods was applied to purify cerium, neodymium and gadolinium. Liquid-liquid extraction technique was used to remove traces of Th and U from neodymium, gadolinium and for purification of cerium from Th, U, Ra and K. Co-precipitation and recrystallization methods were utilized for further reduction of the impurities. The radioactive contamination of the samples before and after the purification was tested by using ultra-low-background HPGe gamma spectrometry. As a result of the purification procedure the radioactive contamination of gadolinium oxide (a similar purification efficiency was reached also with cerium and neodymium oxides was decreased from 0.12 Bq/kg to 0.007 Bq/kg in 228Th, from 0.04 Bq/kg to <0.006 Bq/kg in 226Ra, and from 0.9 Bq/kg to 0.04 Bq/kg in 40K. The purification methods are much less efficient for chemically very similar radioactive elements like actinium, lanthanum and lutetium.

  15. 'Masurium' and the 'early transuranium elements' or how discovery of nuclear fission was not clearly seen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keller, C.

    1988-01-01

    Fifty years after the discovery of fission, the scientific community is aware that this type of nuclear reaction could have been discovered more than a decade earlier. Noddack, Tacke and Berg announced in 1925 the discovery of elements Z = 43 (masurium) and rhenium (Z = 75), the first one could be detected only in U-bearing minerals. A recent re-examination by P.H.M. von Assche of the published data clearly showed that the original claim for element Z = 43 of the authors in 1925 was correct and, therefore, they detected not only element Z = 43 but also the first fission product. Because this discovery of element Z = 43 could not be repeated by other authors as that time, the scientific credibility of Noddack-Tacke was very low in order to give credit to her proposal that the 'early' transuranium elements by Enrico Fermi might also be fragments of known (lighter) elements. Enrico Fermi in 1934 obtained these 'early' (and as we today know: wrong) transuranium isotopes by irradiation of uranium with neutrons. A 'wrong' periodic system in the thirties which placed Th, Pa and U as 6d-elements and not as 5f-actinides chemically helped to consider these fission products as transuranium elements Z = 93/94. In 1937/38 I. Curie and P. Savitch discovered an 'actinium-nuclide' with 3,5 h half-life which, however, had properties similar to lanthanium and not to actinium, as they stated. (orig.) [de

  16. Shape of intrinsic alpha pulse height spectra in lanthanide halide scintillators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolszczak, W.; Dorenbos, P.

    2017-06-01

    Internal contamination with actinium-227 and its daughters is a serious drawback in low-background applications of lanthanide-based scintillators. In this work we showed the important role of nuclear γ de-excitations on the shape of the internal alpha spectrum measured in scintillators. We calculated with Bateman equations the activities of contamination isotopes and the time evolution of actinium-227 and its progenies. Next, we measured the intrinsic background spectra of LaBr3(Ce), LaBr3(Ce,Sr) and CeBr3 with a digital spectroscopy technique, and we analyzed them with a pulse shape discrimination method (PSD) and a time-amplitude analysis. Finally, we simulated the α background spectrum with Geant4 tool-kit, consequently taking into account complex α-γ-electron events, the α / β ratio dependence on the α energy, and the electron/γ nonproportionality. We found that α-γ mixed events have higher light yield than expected for alpha particles alone, which leads to overestimation of the α / β ratio when it is measured with internal 227Th and 223Ra isotopes. The time-amplitude analysis showed that the α peaks of 219Rn and 215Po in LaBr3(Ce) and LaBr3(Ce,Sr) are not symmetric. We compared the simulation results with the measured data and provided further evidence of the important role of mixed α-γ-electron events for understanding the shape of the internal α spectrum in scintillators.

  17. Actinides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinot, L.; Fuger, J.

    1985-01-01

    The oxidation behavior of the actinides is explained on the basis of their electronic structure. The actinide elements, actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium, and laurencium are included. For all except the last three elements, the points of discussion are oxidation states, Gibbs energies and potentials, and potential diagram for the element in acid solution; and thermodynamic properties of these same elements are tabulated. References are cited following discussion of each element with a total of 97 references being cited. 13 tables

  18. Calculation of entropy of liquid metals using acoustic measurements in the framework of the rigid sphere model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tekuchev, V.V.; Barashkov, B.I.; Rygalov, L.N.; Dolzhikov, Yu.S.

    2001-01-01

    For the first time one obtained the polytherms of ultrasound velocity for liquid high-melting metals within wide temperature range. In terms of the rigid sphere model on the basis of the acoustic data one calculated the entropy values for 34 liquid metals at the melting point. The average discrepancy of the calculated values of entropy with the published one constitutes 8.2%. With increase of metal valency the error increases from 2.8 up to 13%. In case of francium, radium, promethium, actinium, hafnium, polonium, rhenium one obtained data for the first time [ru

  19. Status of the lanthanides and actinides in the periodic table

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holden, N.E.

    1985-01-01

    In extended discussions and correspondence with Ekkehard Fluck, the author was made aware of a problem with the Periodic Table, i.e., which element should be shown in the main table as the representative of the lanthanide series and the actinide series. In earlier discussion, he came to the conclusion that lanthanum and actinium are not the elements which should appear, but rather lutetium and lawrencium are more appropriate for inclusion in their place. This paper will attempt to justify the reasons for the above conclusions. 4 refs

  20. A study of uranium and thorium migration at the Koongarra uranium deposit with application to actinide transport from nuclear waste repositories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Payne, T.E.

    1991-01-01

    One way to gain confidence in modelling possible radionuclide releases is to study natural systems which are similar to components of the multibarrier waste repository. Several such analogues are currently under study and these provide useful data about radionuclide behaviour in the natural environment. One such system is the Koongarra uranium deposit in the Northern Territory. In this dissertation, the migration of actinides, primarily uranium and thorium, has been studied as an analogue for the behaviour of transuranics in the far-field of a waste repository. The major findings of this study are: 1. the main process retarding uranium migration in the dispersion fan at Koongarra is sorption, which suppresses dissolved uranium concentrations well below solubility limits, with ferrihydrite being a major sorbing phase; 2. thorium is extremely immobile, with very low dissolved concentrations and corresponding high distribution ratios for 230 Th. Overall, it is estimated that colloids are relatively unimportant in Koongarra groundwater. Uranium migrates mostly as dissolved species, whereas thorium and actinium are mostly adsorbed to larger, relatively immobile particles and the stationary phase. However, of the small amount of 230 Th that passes through a 1μm filter, a significant proportion is associated with colloidal particles. Actinium appears to be slightly more mobile than thorium and is associated with colloids to a greater extent, although generally present in low concentrations. These results support the possibility of colloidal transport of trivalent and tetravalent actinides in the vicinity of a nuclear waste repository. 112 refs., 23 tabs., 32 figs

  1. An eighteen-membered macrocyclic ligand for actinium-225 targeted alpha therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thiele, Nikki A.; MacMillan, Samantha N.; Wilson, Justin J.; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Cristina

    2017-01-01

    The 18-membered macrocycle H 2 macropa was investigated for 225 Ac chelation in targeted alpha therapy (TAT). Radiolabeling studies showed that macropa, at submicromolar concentration, complexed all 225 Ac (26 kBq) in 5 min at RT. [ 225 Ac(macropa)] + remained intact over 7 to 8 days when challenged with either excess La 3+ ions or human serum, and did not accumulate in any organ after 5 h in healthy mice. A bifunctional analogue, macropa-NCS, was conjugated to trastuzumab as well as to the prostate-specific membrane antigen-targeting compound RPS-070. Both constructs rapidly radiolabeled 225 Ac in just minutes at RT, and macropa-Tmab retained >99 % of its 225 Ac in human serum after 7 days. In LNCaP xenograft mice, 225 Ac-macropa-RPS-070 was selectively targeted to tumors and did not release free 225 Ac over 96 h. These findings establish macropa to be a highly promising ligand for 225 Ac chelation that will facilitate the clinical development of 225 Ac TAT for the treatment of soft-tissue metastases. (copyright 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  2. An eighteen-membered macrocyclic ligand for actinium-225 targeted alpha therapy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thiele, Nikki A.; MacMillan, Samantha N.; Wilson, Justin J. [Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Brown, Victoria; Jermilova, Una; Ramogida, Caterina F.; Robertson, Andrew K.H.; Schaffer, Paul; Radchenko, Valery [TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Life Science Div.; Kelly, James M.; Amor-Coarasa, Alejandro; Nikolopoulou, Anastasia; Ponnala, Shashikanth; Williams, Clarence Jr.; Babich, John W. [Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY (United States); Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Cristina [British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and Centre for Comparative Medicine

    2017-11-13

    The 18-membered macrocycle H{sub 2}macropa was investigated for {sup 225}Ac chelation in targeted alpha therapy (TAT). Radiolabeling studies showed that macropa, at submicromolar concentration, complexed all {sup 225}Ac (26 kBq) in 5 min at RT. [{sup 225}Ac(macropa)]{sup +} remained intact over 7 to 8 days when challenged with either excess La{sup 3+} ions or human serum, and did not accumulate in any organ after 5 h in healthy mice. A bifunctional analogue, macropa-NCS, was conjugated to trastuzumab as well as to the prostate-specific membrane antigen-targeting compound RPS-070. Both constructs rapidly radiolabeled {sup 225}Ac in just minutes at RT, and macropa-Tmab retained >99 % of its {sup 225}Ac in human serum after 7 days. In LNCaP xenograft mice, {sup 225}Ac-macropa-RPS-070 was selectively targeted to tumors and did not release free {sup 225}Ac over 96 h. These findings establish macropa to be a highly promising ligand for {sup 225}Ac chelation that will facilitate the clinical development of {sup 225}Ac TAT for the treatment of soft-tissue metastases. (copyright 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  3. Journal of Naval Science. Volume 2. Number 3. July 1976

    Science.gov (United States)

    1976-07-01

    supplementary food to the beakers containing stage VI nauplii: cyprids do not feed. The larvae in each beaker were con- fined within a close-fitting plastic...99-274% of Natural U) Uranium-234 (234U) (0-006% of Natural U) 2-48 X 10"’yrs Thorium-230 (230Th) Polonium -218(2I8Po) /through short lived...Natural U) Actinium-227 (--7Ac) FIG. 1. Nuclide chart. 4-51 X 10’Yrs 7 hours P 8 X 10’ Yrs 4 days Lead- 210 (210Pb) (22 yrs,/3"). 1-39 X 10

  4. Purification of radium-226 for the manufacturing of actinium-225 in a cyclotron for alpha-immunotherapy; Radium-Aufreinigung zur Herstellung von Actinium-225 am Zyklotron fuer die Alpha-Immuntherapie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marx, Sebastian Markus

    2014-09-23

    The thesis describes the development of methods for the purification of Ra-226. The objective was to obtain the radionuclide in the quality that is needed to be used as starting material in the manufacturing process for Ac-225 via proton-irradiated Ra-226. The radionuclide has been gained efficiently out of huge excesses of impurities. The high purity of the obtained radium affords its use as staring material in a pharmaceutical manufacturing process.

  5. Origin of elements of the Uranium-235 family observed in the Ellez river near the EL-4 experimental nuclear reactor in dismantling (Monts d'Arree- Finistere department); Origine des elements de la famille de l'uranium-235 observes dans la riviere Ellez a proximite du reacteur nucleaire experimental EL4 en cours de demantelement (Mont d'Arree - departement du Finistere). Resultats et premiers constats annee 2006

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2006-07-01

    In a previous study which concerned the catchment basin of the harbour of Brest, the A.C.R.O. put in evidence a marking by artificial radioelements around the power plant of Brennilis which can be imputed without ambiguities to the nuclear installation. It also put in evidence abnormalities concerning the natural radioactivity which justifies this new study. In the area of the Monts d'Arree, actinium 227 ({sup 227}Ac), non born by its ascendents which are {sup 235}U and {sup 231}Pa is observed. This phenomenon is characterized by mass activities superior to these ones of {sup 235}U and able to reach these ones of {sup 238}U. Its presence corresponds with the drainage of the Ellez river since the former channel of radioactive effluents releases from the nuclear power plant EL-4 up to the reservoir Saint-Herblot situated 6 km downstream. The strongest values of radioactivity are registered near the disused power plant, at this place a relationship exists between the level of actinium 227 and this one of the artificial radioactivity as it exists a relationship with the decay products of radon exhaled from the subsoil ({sup 210}Pb). But its presence is not limited to a part of the Ellez river, it is equally observed in terrestrial medium, in places in priori not influenced by the direct liquid effluents of the power plant. This place is situated at more than 4 km and without any connection with the Ellez waters. At this stage of the study, it is not possible to answer with certainty the question of the origin of this phenomenon. A new reorientation is considered indispensable to clarify definitively the origin of this unknown phenomenon in the scientific publications and the environmental monitoring. (N.C.)

  6. origin of elements of the Uranium-235 family observed in the Ellez river near the EL-4 experimental nuclear reactor in dismantling (Monts d'Arree- Finistere department)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    In a previous study which concerned the catchment basin of the harbour of Brest, the A.C.R.O. put in evidence a marking by artificial radioelements around the power plant of Brennilis which can be imputed without ambiguities to the nuclear installation. It also put in evidence abnormalities concerning the natural radioactivity which justifies this new study. In the area of the Monts d'Arree, actinium 227 ( 227 Ac), non born by its ascendents which are 235 U and 231 Pa is observed. This phenomenon is characterized by mass activities superior to these ones of 235 U and able to reach these ones of 238 U. Its presence corresponds with the drainage of the Ellez river since the former channel of radioactive effluents releases from the nuclear power plant EL-4 up to the reservoir Saint-Herblot situated 6 km downstream. The strongest values of radioactivity are registered near the disused power plant, at this place a relationship exists between the level of actinium 227 and this one of the artificial radioactivity as it exists a relationship with the decay products of radon exhaled from the subsoil ( 210 Pb). But its presence is not limited to a part of the Ellez river, it is equally observed in terrestrial medium, in places in priori not influenced by the direct liquid effluents of the power plant. This place is situated at more than 4 km and without any connection with the Ellez waters. At this stage of the study, it is not possible to answer with certainty the question of the origin of this phenomenon. A new reorientation is considered indispensable to clarify definitively the origin of this unknown phenomenon in the scientific publications and the environmental monitoring. (N.C.)

  7. Radionuclide interactions with marine sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Higgo, J.J.W.

    1987-09-01

    A critical review of the literature on the subject of the interactions of radionuclides with marine sediments has been carried out. On the basis of the information available, an attempt has been made to give ranges and 'best estimates' for the distribution ratios between seawater and sediments. These estimates have been based on an understanding of the sediment seawater system and the porewater chemistry and mineralogy. Field measurements, laboratory measurements and estimates based on stable-element geochemical data are all taken into account. Laboratory measurements include distribution-ratio and diffusion-coefficient determinations. The elements reviewed are carbon, chlorine, calcium, nickel, selenium, strontium, zirconium, niobium, technetium, tin, iodine, caesium, lead, radium, actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium and curium. (author)

  8. Calculation technique of free and impurity ion electronic structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kulagin, N.A.; Sviridov, D.T.

    1986-01-01

    The monograph deals with calculation technique of free and impurity ion spectra with completed nl N -shell. The principles of the theory of irreducible tensor operators, genealogical coefficients, calculation technique of angular and radial parts of matrix elements operators are stated. The correlation accounting methods in free ions are considered in detail. The principles of the theory of crystal field and ligand field, the method of self-consistent field for impurity ions are reported. The technique efficiency based on example of lanthanum and actinium group ions is shown. Experimental data by nf N -ion spectra are given. The tables of angular coefficients, energy values of X-ray lines of rare earth ions and genealogical coefficients are given in the appendix

  9. JAEA thermodynamic database for performance assessment of geological disposal of high-level and TRU wastes. Refinement of thermodynamic data for trivalent actinoids and samarium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitamura, Akira; Fujiwara, Kenso; Yui, Mikazu

    2010-01-01

    Within the scope of the JAEA thermodynamic database project for performance assessment of geological disposal of high-level radioactive and TRU wastes, the refinement of the thermodynamic data for the inorganic compounds and complexes of trivalent actinoids (actinium(III), plutonium(III), americium(III) and curium(III)) and samarium(III) was carried out. Refinement of thermodynamic data for these elements was based on the thermodynamic database for americium published by the Nuclear Energy Agency in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA). Based on the similarity of chemical properties among trivalent actinoids and samarium, complementary thermodynamic data for their species expected under the geological disposal conditions were selected to complete the thermodynamic data set for the performance assessment of geological disposal of radioactive wastes. (author)

  10. Formerly utilized MED/AEC sites Remedial Action Program. Radiological survey of the St. Louis Airport Storage Site, St. Louis, Missouri. Final report. [U, Ra-bearing wastes stored in 1940-60's

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1979-09-01

    Results of two radiological surveys of the St. Louis-Lambert Airport property, formerly known as the Airport Storage Site, St. Louis, Missouri, are presented. Uranium- and radium-bearing waste materials were stored from the 1940's to the late 1960's in this area. The surveys included direct measurements of beta-gamma radiation; determination of uranium, actinium, and radium concentrations in soil samples and from bore holes; determination of radionuclide concentrations in groundwater and surface water; measurement of radon flux from the ground surface; and measurements of /sup 222/Rn in air near the site. Results indicate that some offsite drainage pathways are becoming contaminated, probably by runoff from the site; no migration of /sup 222/Rn from the site was observed.

  11. Dissolved Concentration Limits of Radioactive Elements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Y. Chen; E.R. Thomas; F.J. Pearson; P.L. Cloke; T.L. Steinborn; P.V. Brady

    2003-06-20

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate dissolved concentration limits (also referred to as solubility limits) of radioactive elements under possible repository conditions, based on geochemical modeling calculations using geochemical modeling tools, thermodynamic databases, and measurements made in laboratory experiments and field work. The scope of this modeling activity is to predict dissolved concentrations or solubility limits for 14 radioactive elements (actinium, americium, carbon, cesium, iodine, lead, neptunium, plutonium, protactinium, radium, strontium, technetium, thorium, and uranium), which are important to calculated dose. Model outputs are mainly in the form of look-up tables plus one or more uncertainty terms. The rest are either in the form of distributions or single values. The results of this analysis are fundamental inputs for total system performance assessment to constrain the release of these elements from waste packages and the engineered barrier system. Solubilities of plutonium, neptunium, uranium, americium, actinium, thorium, protactinium, lead, and radium have been re-evaluated using the newly updated thermodynamic database (Data0.ymp.R2). For all of the actinides, identical modeling approaches and consistent environmental conditions were used to develop solubility models in this revision. These models cover broad ranges of environmental conditions so that they are applicable to both waste packages and the invert. Uncertainties from thermodynamic data, water chemistry, temperature variation, activity coefficients, and selection of solubility controlling phase have been quantified or otherwise addressed. Moreover, a new blended plutonium solubility model has been developed in this revision, which gives a mean solubility that is three orders of magnitude lower than the plutonium solubility model used for the Total System Performance Assessment for the Site Recommendation. Two alternative neptunium solubility models have also been

  12. Dissolved Concentration Limits of Radioactive Elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Y. Chen; E.R. Thomas; F.J. Pearson; P.L. Cloke; T.L. Steinborn; P.V. Brady

    2003-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate dissolved concentration limits (also referred to as solubility limits) of radioactive elements under possible repository conditions, based on geochemical modeling calculations using geochemical modeling tools, thermodynamic databases, and measurements made in laboratory experiments and field work. The scope of this modeling activity is to predict dissolved concentrations or solubility limits for 14 radioactive elements (actinium, americium, carbon, cesium, iodine, lead, neptunium, plutonium, protactinium, radium, strontium, technetium, thorium, and uranium), which are important to calculated dose. Model outputs are mainly in the form of look-up tables plus one or more uncertainty terms. The rest are either in the form of distributions or single values. The results of this analysis are fundamental inputs for total system performance assessment to constrain the release of these elements from waste packages and the engineered barrier system. Solubilities of plutonium, neptunium, uranium, americium, actinium, thorium, protactinium, lead, and radium have been re-evaluated using the newly updated thermodynamic database (Data0.ymp.R2). For all of the actinides, identical modeling approaches and consistent environmental conditions were used to develop solubility models in this revision. These models cover broad ranges of environmental conditions so that they are applicable to both waste packages and the invert. Uncertainties from thermodynamic data, water chemistry, temperature variation, activity coefficients, and selection of solubility controlling phase have been quantified or otherwise addressed. Moreover, a new blended plutonium solubility model has been developed in this revision, which gives a mean solubility that is three orders of magnitude lower than the plutonium solubility model used for the Total System Performance Assessment for the Site Recommendation. Two alternative neptunium solubility models have also been

  13. How fission was discovered

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fluegge, S.

    1989-01-01

    After the great survey of neutron induced radioactivity by Fermi and co-workers, the laboratories in Paris and Berlin-Dahlen tried to disentangle the complex results found in uranium. At that time neutron sources were small, activities low, and equipment very simple. Chemistry beyond uranium still was unknown. Hahn and Meitner believed to have observed three transuranic isomeric chains, a doubtful result even then. Early in 1938, Curie and Savic in Paris found an activity interpreted to be actinium, and Hahn and Meitner another to be radium. Both interpretations seemed impossible from energy considerations. Hahn and Strassmann, therefore, continued this work and succeeded to separate the new activity from radium. There remained no doubt that a barium isotope had been produced, the uranium nucleus splitting in the yet-unknown process we now call fission

  14. New method for large scale production of medically applicable Actinium-225 and Radium-223

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aliev, R.A.; Vasilyev, A.N.; Ostapenko, V.; Kalmykov, S.N.; Zhuikov, B.L.; Ermolaev, S.V.; Lapshina, E.V.

    2014-01-01

    Alpha-emitters ( 211 At, 212 Bi, 213 Bi, 223 Ra, 225 Ac) are promising for targeted radiotherapy of cancer. Only two alpha decays near a cell membrane result in 50% death of cancer cell and only a single decay inside the cell is required for this. 225 Ac may be used either directly or as a mother radionuclide in 213 Bi isotope generator. Production of 225 Ac is provided by three main suppliers - Institute for Transuranium Elements in Germany, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in USA and Institute of Physics and Power Engineering in Obninsk, Russia. The current worldwide production of 225 Ac is approximately 1.7 Ci per year that corresponds to only 100-200 patients that could be treated annually. The common approach for 225 Ac production is separation from mother 229 Th or irradiation of 226 Ra with protons in a cyclotron. Both the methods have some practical limitations to be applied routinely. 225 Ac can be also produced by irradiation of natural thorium with medium energy protons . Cumulative cross sections of 225 Ac, 227 Ac, 227 Th, 228 Th formations have been obtained recently. Thorium targets (1-9 g) were irradiated by 114-91 MeV proton beam (1-50 μA) at INR linear accelerator. After dissolution in 8 M HNO 3 + 0.004 M HF thorium was removed by double LLX by HDEHP in toluene (1:1). Ac and REE were pre-concentrated and separated from Ra and most fission products by DGA-Resin (Triskem). After washing out by 0.01 M HNO 3 Ac was separated from REE by TRU Resin (Triskem) in 3 M HNO 3 media. About 6 mCi 225 Ac were separated in hot cell with chemical yield 85%. The method may be upscaled for production of Ci amounts of the radionuclide. The main impurity is 227 Ac (0.1% at the EOB) but it does not hinder 225 Ac from being used for medical 225 Ac/ 213 Bi generators. (author)

  15. The marine geochemistry of actinium-227: Evidence for its migration through sediment pore water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nozaki, Yoshiyuki; Yamada, Masatoshi; Nikaido, Hirofumi

    1990-01-01

    227 Ac with a half life of 21.8 years has a potential utility as a tracer of deep water circulation and mixing studies on time scales less than 100 years. Here the authors present the first measurement of 227 Ac profile in the pore water of Northwest Pacific deep-sea sediment and in the ∼10,000 m long water column of Izu-Ogasawara Trench. The results clearly show that 227 Ac is supplied from the sediment to the overlying water through migration in the pore water. The model calculation indicates that the molecular diffusion alone through sediment porewater can support only a half of the standing crop of excess 227 Ac in the water column and the enhanced supply of 227 Ac by particle mixing is necessary to account for the remainder. Thus, bioturbation in the deep sea plays an important role in controlling the flux of some short-lived radionuclides such as 227 Ac and 228 Ra across the sediment-water interface

  16. Process for radioisotope recovery and system for implementing same

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meikrantz, David H [Idaho Falls, ID; Todd, Terry A [Aberdeen, ID; Tranter, Troy J [Idaho Falls, ID; Horwitz, E Philip [Naperville, IL

    2009-10-06

    A method of recovering daughter isotopes from a radioisotope mixture. The method comprises providing a radioisotope mixture solution comprising at least one parent isotope. The at least one parent isotope is extracted into an organic phase, which comprises an extractant and a solvent. The organic phase is substantially continuously contacted with an aqueous phase to extract at least one daughter isotope into the aqueous phase. The aqueous phase is separated from the organic phase, such as by using an annular centrifugal contactor. The at least one daughter isotope is purified from the aqueous phase, such as by ion exchange chromatography or extraction chromatography. The at least one daughter isotope may include actinium-225, radium-225, bismuth-213, or mixtures thereof. A liquid-liquid extraction system for recovering at least one daughter isotope from a source material is also disclosed.

  17. The chemistry of the actinide elements. Volume I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katz, J.J.; Seaborg, G.T.; Morss, L.R.

    1986-01-01

    The Chemistry of the Actinide Elements is a comprehensive, contemporary and authoritative exposition of the chemistry and related properties of the 5f series of elements: actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium and the first eleven. This second edition has been completely restructured and rewritten to incorporate current research in all areas of actinide chemistry and chemical physics. The descriptions of each element include accounts of their history, separation, metallurgy, solid-state chemistry, solution chemistry, thermo-dynamics and kinetics. Additionally, separate chapters on spectroscopy, magnetochemistry, thermodynamics, solids, the metallic state, complex ions and organometallic compounds emphasize the comparative chemistry and unique properties of the actinide series of elements. Comprehensive lists of properties of all actinide compounds and ions in solution are given, and there are special sections on such topics as biochemistry, superconductivity, radioisotope safety, and waste management, as well as discussion of the transactinides and future elements

  18. A neutron source of variable fluence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brachet, Guy; Demichel, Pascal; Prigent, Yvon; Riche, J.C.

    1975-01-01

    The invention concerns a variable fluence neutron source, like those that use in the known way a reaction between a radioactive emitter and a target, particularly of type (α,n). The emitter being in powder form lies in a carrier fluid forming the target, inside a closed containment. Facilities are provided to cause the fluidisation of the emitter by the carrier fluid in the containment. The fluidisation of the emitting powder is carried out by a booster with blades, actuated from outside by a magnetic coupling. The powder emitter is a α emitter selected in the group of curium, plutonium, thorium, actinium and americium oxides and the target fluid is formed of compounds of light elements selected from the group of beryllium, boron, fluorine and oxygen 18. The target fluid is a gas used under pressure or H 2 O water highly enriched in oxygen 18 [fr

  19. Purification of radium-226 for the manufacturing of actinium-225 in a cyclotron for alpha-immunotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marx, Sebastian Markus

    2014-01-01

    The thesis describes the development of methods for the purification of Ra-226. The objective was to obtain the radionuclide in the quality that is needed to be used as starting material in the manufacturing process for Ac-225 via proton-irradiated Ra-226. The radionuclide has been gained efficiently out of huge excesses of impurities. The high purity of the obtained radium affords its use as staring material in a pharmaceutical manufacturing process.

  20. Linear free energy relationship applied to trivalent cations with lanthanum and actinium oxide and hydroxide structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ragavan, Anpalaki J.

    2006-01-01

    Linear free energy relationships for trivalent cations with crystalline M 2 O 3 and, M(OH) 3 phases of lanthanides and actinides were developed from known thermodynamic properties of the aqueous trivalent cations, modifying the Sverjensky and Molling equation. The linear free energy relationship for trivalent cations is as ΔG f,MvX 0 =a MvX ΔG n,M 3+ 0 +b MvX +β MvX r M 3+ , where the coefficients a MvX , b MvX , and β MvX characterize a particular structural family of MvX, r M 3+ is the ionic radius of M 3+ cation, ΔG f,MvX 0 is the standard Gibbs free energy of formation of MvX and ΔG n,M 3+ 0 is the standard non-solvation free energy of the cation. The coefficients for the oxide family are: a MvX =0.2705, b MvX =-1984.75 (kJ/mol), and β MvX =197.24 (kJ/molnm). The coefficients for the hydroxide family are: a MvX =0.1587, b MvX =-1474.09 (kJ/mol), and β MvX =791.70 (kJ/molnm).

  1. Development of ion beam sputtering techniques for actinide target preparation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aaron, W.S.; Zevenbergen, L.A.; Adair, H.L.

    1985-01-01

    Ion beam sputtering is a routine method for the preparation of thin films used as targets because it allows the use of minimum quantity of starting material, and losses are much lower than most other vacuum deposition techniques. Work is underway in the Isotope Research Materials Laboratory (IRML) at ORNL to develop the techniques that will make the preparation of actinide targets up to 100 μg/cm 2 by ion beam sputtering a routinely available service from IRML. The preparation of the actinide material in a form suitable for sputtering is a key to this technique, as is designing a sputtering system that allows the flexibility required for custom-ordered target production. At present, development work is being conducted on low-activity in a bench-top system. The system will then be installed in a hood or glove box approved for radioactive materials handling where processing of radium, actinium, and plutonium isotopes among others will be performed. (orig.)

  2. Development of ion beam sputtering techniques for actinide target preparation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aaron, W. S.; Zevenbergen, L. A.; Adair, H. L.

    1985-06-01

    Ion beam sputtering is a routine method for the preparation of thin films used as targets because it allows the use of a minimum quantity of starting material, and losses are much lower than most other vacuum deposition techniques. Work is underway in the Isotope Research Materials Laboratory (IRML) at ORNL to develop the techniques that will make the preparation of actinide targets up to 100 μg/cm 2 by ion beam sputtering a routinely available service from IRML. The preparation of the actinide material in a form suitable for sputtering is a key to this technique, as is designing a sputtering system that allows the flexibility required for custom-ordered target production. At present, development work is being conducted on low-activity actinides in a bench-top system. The system will then be installed in a hood or glove box approved for radioactive materials handling where processing of radium, actinium, and plutonium isotopes among others will be performed.

  3. Proposed training program for construction personnel involved in remedial action work at sites contaminated by naturally occurring radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berven, B.A.; Goldsmith, W.A.; Haywood, F.F.; Schiager, K.J.

    1979-01-01

    Many sites used during the early days of the US atomic energy program are contaminated with radionuclides of the primordial decay chains (uranium, thorium, and actinium series). This contamination consists of residues resulting from refining and processing uranium and thorium. Preparation of these sites for release to unrestricted private use will involve the assistance of construction workers, many of whom have limited knowledge of the hazards associated with radioactive materials. Therefore, there is a need to educate these workers in the fundamentals of radioactive material handling to minimize exposures and possible spread of contamination. This training should disseminate relevant information at an appropriate educational level and should instill a cautious, common-sense attitude toward the handling of radioactive materials. The training should emphasize basic information concerning environmental radiation within a context of relative risk. A multi-media format, including colorful visual aids, demonstration, and discussion, should be used to maximize motivation and retention. A detailed, proposed training program design is presented

  4. Geological disposal: security and R and D. Security of 'second draft for R and D of geological disposal'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shiotsuki, Masao; Miyahara, Kaname

    2003-01-01

    The second draft for R and D of geological disposal (second draft) was arranged in 1999. The idea of security of geological disposal in the second draft is explained. The evaluation results of the uncertainty analysis and an example of evaluation of the effect of separation nuclear transmutation on the geological disposal are shown. The construction of strong engineered barrier is a basic idea of geological disposal system. Three processes such as isolation, engineering countermeasures and safety evaluation are carried out for the security of geological disposal. The security of geological environment for a long time of 12 sites in Japan was studied by data. Provability of production and enforcement of engineered barrier were confirmed by trial of over pack, tests and the present and future technologies developed. By using the conditions of reference case in the second draft, the evaluation results of dose effects in the two cases: 1) 90 to 99% Cs and Sr removed from HLW (High Level radioactive Waste) and 2) high stripping ratio of actinium series are explained. (S.Y.)

  5. Ac, La, and Ce radioimpurities in {sup 225}Ac produced in 40-200 MeV proton irradiations of thorium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Engle, Jonathan W.; Ballard, Beau D. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM (United States); Weidner, John W. [Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH (United States); and others

    2014-10-01

    Accelerator production of {sup 225}Ac addresses the global supply deficiency currently inhibiting clinical trials from establishing {sup 225}Ac's therapeutic utility, provided that the accelerator product is of sufficient radionuclidic purity for patient use. Two proton activation experiments utilizing the stacked foil technique between 40 and 200 MeV were employed to study the likely co-formation of radionuclides expected to be especially challenging to separate from {sup 225}Ac. Foils were assayed by nondestructive γ-spectroscopy and by α-spectroscopy of chemically processed target material. Nuclear formation cross sections for the radionuclides {sup 226}Ac and {sup 227}Ac as well as lower lanthanide radioisotopes {sup 139}Ce, {sup 141}Ce, {sup 143}Ce, and {sup 140}La whose elemental ionic radii closely match that of actinium were measured and are reported. The predictions of the latest MCNP6 event generators are compared with measured data, as they permit estimation of the formation rates of other radionuclides whose decay emissions are not clearly discerned in the complex spectra collected from {sup 232}Th(p,x) fission product mixtures. (orig.)

  6. Background radiation and individual dosimetry in the coastal area of Tamil Nadu (India)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuda, N.; Brahmanandhan, G. M.; Yoshida, M.; Takamura, N.; Suyama, A.; Koguchi, Y.; Juto, N.; Raj, Y. L.; Winsley, G.; Selvasekarapandian, S.

    2011-01-01

    South coast of India is known as the high-level background radiation area (HBRA) mainly due to beach sands that contain natural radionuclides as components of the mineral monazite. The rich deposit of monazite is unevenly distributed along the coastal belt of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. An HBRA site that laid in 2x7 m along the sea was found in the beach of Chinnavillai, Tamil Nadu, where the maximum ambient dose equivalent reached as high as 162.7 mSv y -1 . From the sands collected at the HBRA spot, the high-purity germanium semi-conductor detector identified six nuclides of thorium series, four nuclides of uranium series and two nuclides belonging to actinium series. The highest radioactivity observed was 43.7 Bq g -1 of Th-228. The individual dose of five inhabitants in Chinnavillai, as measured by the radiophotoluminescence glass dosimetry system, demonstrated the average dose of 7.17 mSv y -1 ranging from 2.79 to 14.17 mSv y -1 . (authors)

  7. Soil nuclide distribution coefficients and their statistical distributions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheppard, M.I.; Beals, D.I.; Thibault, D.H.; O'Connor, P.

    1984-12-01

    Environmental assessments of the disposal of nuclear fuel waste in plutonic rock formations require analysis of the migration of nuclides from the disposal vault to the biosphere. Analyses of nuclide migration via groundwater through the disposal vault, the buffer and backfill, the plutonic rock, and the consolidated and unconsolidated overburden use models requiring distribution coefficients (Ksub(d)) to describe the interaction of the nuclides with the geological and man-made materials. This report presents element-specific soil distribution coefficients and their statistical distributions, based on a detailed survey of the literature. Radioactive elements considered were actinium, americium, bismuth, calcium, carbon, cerium, cesium, iodine, lead, molybdenum, neptunium, nickel, niobium, palladium, plutonium, polonium, protactinium, radium, samarium, selenium, silver, strontium, technetium, terbium, thorium, tin, uranium and zirconium. Stable elements considered were antimony, boron, cadmium, tellurium and zinc. Where sufficient data were available, distribution coefficients and their distributions are given for sand, silt, clay and organic soils. Our values are recommended for use in assessments for the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program

  8. TRASH TO TREASURE: CONVERTING COLD WAR LEGACY WASTE INTO WEAPONS AGAINST CANCER

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nicholas, R.G.; Lacy, N.H.; Butz, T.R.; Brandon, N.E.

    2004-01-01

    As part of its commitment to clean up Cold War legacy sites, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated an exciting and unique project to dispose of its inventory of uranium-233 (233U) stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and extract isotopes that show great promise in the treatment of deadly cancers. In addition to increasing the supply of potentially useful medical isotopes, the project will rid DOE of a nuclear concern and cut surveillance and security costs. For more than 30 years, DOE's ORNL has stored over 1,200 containers of fissile 233U, originally produced for several defense-related projects, including a pilot study that looked at using 233U as a commercial reactor fuel. This uranium, designated as special nuclear material, requires expensive security, safety, and environmental controls. It has been stored at an ORNL facility, Building 3019A, that dates back to the Manhattan Project. Down-blending the material to a safer form, rather than continuing to store it, will eliminate a $15 million a year financial liability for the DOE and increase the supply of medical isotopes by 5,700 percent. During the down-blending process, thorium-229 (229Th) will be extracted. The thorium will then be used to extract actinium-225 (225Ac), which will ultimately supply its progeny, bismuth-213 (213Bi), for on-going cancer research. The research includes Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York, as well as other serious cancers of the lungs, pancreas, and kidneys using a technique known as alpha-particle radioimmunotherapy. Alpha-particle radioimmunotherapy is based on the emission of alpha particles by radionuclides. 213Bi is attached to a monoclonal antibody that targets specific cells. The bismuth then delivers a high-powered but short-range radiation dose, effectively killing the cancerous cells but sparing the surrounding tissue. Production of the actinium and

  9. Minor Actinide Burning in Thermal Reactors. A Report by the Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hesketh, K.; Porsch, D.; Rimpault, G.; Taiwo, T.; Worrall, A.

    2013-01-01

    The actinides (or actinoids) are those elements in the periodic table from actinium upwards. Uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) are two of the principal elements in nuclear fuel that could be classed as major actinides. The minor actinides are normally taken to be the triad of neptunium (Np), americium (Am) and curium (Cm). The combined masses of the remaining actinides (i.e. actinium, thorium, protactinium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium and fermium) are small enough to be regarded as very minor trace contaminants in nuclear fuel. Those elements above uranium in the periodic table are known collectively as the transuranics (TRUs). The operation of a nuclear reactor produces large quantities of irradiated fuel (sometimes referred to as spent fuel), which is either stored prior to eventual deep geological disposal or reprocessed to enable actinide recycling. A modern light water reactor (LWR) of 1 GWe capacity will typically discharge about 20-25 tonnes of irradiated fuel per year of operation. About 93-94% of the mass of uranium oxide irradiated fuel is comprised of uranium (mostly 238 U), with about 4-5% fission products and ∼1% plutonium. About 0.1-0.2% of the mass is comprised of neptunium, americium and curium. These latter elements accumulate in nuclear fuel because of neutron captures, and they contribute significantly to decay heat loading and neutron output, as well as to the overall radio-toxic hazard of spent fuel. Although the total minor actinide mass is relatively small - approximately 20-25 kg per year from a 1 GWe LWR - it has a disproportionate impact on spent fuel disposal, and thus the longstanding interest in transmuting these actinides either by fission (to fission products) or neutron capture in order to reduce their impact on the back end of the fuel cycle. The combined masses of the trace actinides actinium, thorium, protactinium, berkelium and californium in irradiated LWR fuel are only about 2 parts per billion, which is far too low for

  10. Electronic structure and dynamics of ordered clusters with ME or RE ions on oxide surface

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kulagin, N.A., E-mail: nkulagin@bestnet.kharkov.u [Kharkiv National University for Radio Electronics, Avenue Shakespeare 6-48, 61045 Kharkiv (Ukraine)

    2011-03-15

    Selected data of ab initio simulation of the electronic structure and spectral properties of either cluster with ions of iron, rare earth or actinium group elements have been presented here. Appearance of doped Cr{sup +4} ions in oxides, Cu{sup +2} in HTSC, Nd{sup +2} in solids has been discussed. Analysis of experimental data for plasma created ordered structures of crystallites with size of about 10{sup -9} m on surface of separate oxides are given, too. Change in the spectroscopic properties of clusters and nano-structures on surface of strontium titanate crystals discussed shortly using the X-ray line spectroscopy experimental results. - Research highlights: External influence and variation of technology induce changes in valence of nl ions in compounds. Wave function of cluster presented as anti-symmetrical set of ions wave functions. The main equation describes the self-consistent field depending on state of all electrons of cluster. Level scheme of Cr{sup 4+} ions in octo- and tetra-site corresponds to doped oxides spectra after treatment. Plasma treatment effects in appearance of systems of unit crystallites with size of about 10{sup -6}-10{sup -9} m.

  11. Electronic structure and dynamics of ordered clusters with ME or RE ions on oxide surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kulagin, N.A.

    2011-01-01

    Selected data of ab initio simulation of the electronic structure and spectral properties of either cluster with ions of iron, rare earth or actinium group elements have been presented here. Appearance of doped Cr +4 ions in oxides, Cu +2 in HTSC, Nd +2 in solids has been discussed. Analysis of experimental data for plasma created ordered structures of crystallites with size of about 10 -9 m on surface of separate oxides are given, too. Change in the spectroscopic properties of clusters and nano-structures on surface of strontium titanate crystals discussed shortly using the X-ray line spectroscopy experimental results. - Research highlights: → External influence and variation of technology induce changes in valence of nl ions in compounds. → Wave function of cluster presented as anti-symmetrical set of ions wave functions. → The main equation describes the self-consistent field depending on state of all electrons of cluster. → Level scheme of Cr 4+ ions in octo- and tetra-site corresponds to doped oxides spectra after treatment. → Plasma treatment effects in appearance of systems of unit crystallites with size of about 10 -6 -10 -9 m.

  12. Review of radionuclide source terms used for performance-assessment analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barnard, R.W.

    1993-06-01

    Two aspects of the radionuclide source terms used for total-system performance assessment (TSPA) analyses have been reviewed. First, a detailed radionuclide inventory (i.e., one in which the reactor type, decay, and burnup are specified) is compared with the standard source-term inventory used in prior analyses. The latter assumes a fixed ratio of pressurized-water reactor (PWR) to boiling-water reactor (BWR) spent fuel, at specific amounts of burnup and at 10-year decay. TSPA analyses have been used to compare the simplified source term with the detailed one. The TSPA-91 analyses did not show a significant difference between the source terms. Second, the radionuclides used in source terms for TSPA aqueous-transport analyses have been reviewed to select ones that are representative of the entire inventory. It is recommended that two actinide decay chains be included (the 4n+2 ''uranium'' and 4n+3 ''actinium'' decay series), since these include several radionuclides that have potentially important release and dose characteristics. In addition, several fission products are recommended for the same reason. The choice of radionuclides should be influenced by other parameter assumptions, such as the solubility and retardation of the radionuclides

  13. Renal uptake of bismuth-213 and its contribution to kidney radiation dose following administration of actinium-225-labeled antibody

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schwartz, J; O' Donoghue, J A; Humm, J L [Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 (United States); Jaggi, J S [Bristol-Myers Squibb, Plainsboro, NJ (United States); Ruan, S; Larson, S M [Nuclear Medicine Service Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 (United States); McDevitt, M; Scheinberg, D A, E-mail: schwarj1@mskcc.org [Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry, Sloan-Kettering Institute, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065 (United States)

    2011-02-07

    Clinical therapeutic studies using {sup 225}Ac-labeled antibodies have begun. Of major concern is renal toxicity that may result from the three alpha-emitting progeny generated following the decay of {sup 225}Ac. The purpose of this study was to determine the amount of {sup 225}Ac and non-equilibrium progeny in the mouse kidney after the injection of {sup 225}Ac-huM195 antibody and examine the dosimetric consequences. Groups of mice were sacrificed at 24, 96 and 144 h after injection with {sup 225}Ac-huM195 antibody and kidneys excised. One kidney was used for gamma ray spectroscopic measurements by a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The second kidney was used to generate frozen tissue sections which were examined by digital autoradiography (DAR). Two measurements were performed on each kidney specimen: (1) immediately post-resection and (2) after sufficient time for any non-equilibrium excess {sup 213}Bi to decay completely. Comparison of these measurements enabled estimation of the amount of excess {sup 213}Bi reaching the kidney ({gamma}-ray spectroscopy) and its sub-regional distribution (DAR). The average absorbed dose to whole kidney, determined by spectroscopy, was 0.77 (SD 0.21) Gy kBq{sup -1}, of which 0.46 (SD 0.16) Gy kBq{sup -1} (i.e. 60%) was due to non-equilibrium excess {sup 213}Bi. The relative contributions to renal cortex and medulla were determined by DAR. The estimated dose to the cortex from non-equilibrium excess {sup 213}Bi (0.31 (SD 0.11) Gy kBq{sup -1}) represented {approx}46% of the total. For the medulla the dose contribution from excess {sup 213}Bi (0.81 (SD 0.28) Gy kBq{sup -1}) was {approx}80% of the total. Based on these estimates, for human patients we project a kidney-absorbed dose of 0.28 Gy MBq{sup -1} following administration of {sup 225}Ac-huM195 with non-equilibrium excess {sup 213}Bi responsible for approximately 60% of the total. Methods to reduce renal accumulation of radioactive progeny appear to be necessary for the success of {sup 225}Ac radioimmunotherapy.

  14. Distribution of trace elements in land plants and botanical taxonomy with special reference to rare earth elements and actinium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koyama, Mutsuo

    1989-01-01

    Distribution profiles of trace elements in land plants were studied by neutron activation analysis and radioactivity measurements without activation. Number of botanical samples analyzed were more than three thousand in which more than three hundred botanical species were included. New accumulator plants of Co, Cr, Zn, Cd, rare earth elements, Ac, U, etc., were found. Capabilities of accumulating trace elements can be related to the botanical taxonomy. Discussions are given from view points of inorganic chemistry as well as from botanical physiology

  15. Emanations and 'induced' radioactivity: from mystery to (mis)use

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolar, Z.I.

    1999-01-01

    The natural Rn isotopes were discovered within the period 1899-1902 and at that time referred to as emanations because they came out (emanated) of sources/materials containing actinium, thorium and radium, respectively. The (somewhat mysterious) emanations appeared to disintegrate into radioactive decay products which by depositing at solid surfaces gave rise to 'induced' radioactivity i.e. radioactive substances with various half-lives. Following the discovery of the emanations the volume of the research involving them and their disintegration products grew steeply. The identity of a number of these radioactive products was soon established. Radium emanation was soon used as a source of RaD ( 210 Pb) to be applied as an 'indicator' (radiotracer) for lead in a study on the solubility of lead sulphide and lead chromate. Moreover, radium and its emanation were introduced into the medical practice. Inhaling radon and drinking radon-containing water became an accepted medicinal use (or misuse?) of that gas. Shortly after the turn of the century, the healing (?) action of natural springs (spas) was attributed to their radium emanation, i.e. radon. Bathing in radioactive spring water and drinking it became very popular. Even today, bathing in radon-containing water is still a common medical treatment in Jachymov, Czech Republic. (author)

  16. Study of Soil Decontamination Method Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and TBP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jihye; Park, Kwangheon; Jung, Wonyoung

    2014-01-01

    The result of this study means that we have a possible new method for cheap and less wasteful nuclear waste decontamination. When severe accidents such as the incident at the Fukushima nuclear site occur, the soil near the power plant is contaminated with fission products or the activation metal structure of the power plant. The soil pollution form depends on the environment and soil characteristics of the contaminated areas. Thus, a- single-decontamination method is not effective for site cleanup. In addition, some soil decontamination methods are expensive and large amounts of secondary waste are generated. Therefore, we need new soil decontamination methods. In this study, instead of using a conventional solvent method that generates secondary waste, supercritical carbon dioxide was used to remove metal ions from the soil. Supercritical carbon dioxide is known for good permeation characteristics. We expect that we will reduce the cost of soil pollution management. Supercritical carbon dioxide can decontaminate soil easily, as it has the ability to penetrate even narrow gaps with very good moisture permeability. We used TBP, which is a known for extractant of actinium metal. TBP is usually used for uranium and strontium extraction. Using TBP-HNO 3 complex and supercritical carbon dioxide, we did extraction experiments for several heavy metals in contaminated soil

  17. Study of Soil Decontamination Method Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and TBP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Jihye; Park, Kwangheon; Jung, Wonyoung [Kyunghee Univ., Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    The result of this study means that we have a possible new method for cheap and less wasteful nuclear waste decontamination. When severe accidents such as the incident at the Fukushima nuclear site occur, the soil near the power plant is contaminated with fission products or the activation metal structure of the power plant. The soil pollution form depends on the environment and soil characteristics of the contaminated areas. Thus, a- single-decontamination method is not effective for site cleanup. In addition, some soil decontamination methods are expensive and large amounts of secondary waste are generated. Therefore, we need new soil decontamination methods. In this study, instead of using a conventional solvent method that generates secondary waste, supercritical carbon dioxide was used to remove metal ions from the soil. Supercritical carbon dioxide is known for good permeation characteristics. We expect that we will reduce the cost of soil pollution management. Supercritical carbon dioxide can decontaminate soil easily, as it has the ability to penetrate even narrow gaps with very good moisture permeability. We used TBP, which is a known for extractant of actinium metal. TBP is usually used for uranium and strontium extraction. Using TBP-HNO{sub 3} complex and supercritical carbon dioxide, we did extraction experiments for several heavy metals in contaminated soil.

  18. DISSOLVED CONCENTRATION LIMITS OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NA

    2004-11-22

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate dissolved concentration limits (also referred to as solubility limits) of elements with radioactive isotopes under probable repository conditions, based on geochemical modeling calculations using geochemical modeling tools, thermodynamic databases, field measurements, and laboratory experiments. The scope of this modeling activity is to predict dissolved concentrations or solubility limits for 14 elements with radioactive isotopes (actinium, americium, carbon, cesium, iodine, lead, neptunium, plutonium, protactinium, radium, strontium, technetium, thorium, and uranium) important to calculated dose. Model outputs for uranium, plutonium, neptunium, thorium, americium, and protactinium are in the form of tabulated functions with pH and log (line integral) CO{sub 2} as independent variables, plus one or more uncertainty terms. The solubility limits for the remaining elements are either in the form of distributions or single values. The output data from this report are fundamental inputs for Total System Performance Assessment for the License Application (TSPA-LA) to determine the estimated release of these elements from waste packages and the engineered barrier system. Consistent modeling approaches and environmental conditions were used to develop solubility models for all of the actinides. These models cover broad ranges of environmental conditions so that they are applicable to both waste packages and the invert. Uncertainties from thermodynamic data, water chemistry, temperature variation, and activity coefficients have been quantified or otherwise addressed.

  19. Generalized phase diagram for the rare-earth elements: Calculations and correlations of bulk properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johansson, B.; Rosengren, A.

    1975-01-01

    A ''generalized'' phase diagram is constructed empirically for the lanthanides. This diagram makes it possible, not only in one picture, to assemble a lot of information but also to predict phase transitions not yet experimentally accessible. Further, it clearly illustrates the close relation between the members of the lanthanide group. To account for some of its features, the pseudopotential method is applied. The trend in crystal structure through the lanthanide series can thereby be qualitatively accounted for, as can the trend in crystal structure for an individual element, when compressed. A scaling procedure makes it possible to extend the treatment to elements neighboring the lanthanides in the Periodic Table. In total 25 elements are considered. An atomic parameter f (relatable to the pseudopotential) is introduced, by means of which different phase transitions, both for an individual rare-earth element and intra-rare-earth alloys, can be correlated to certain critical values of this parameter. A nonmagnetic rare-earth series (Sc, Lu, Y, La, and Ac) is introduced and the occurrence of superconductivity is discussed with special emphasis on the pressure dependence of the transition temperature. This temperature can be correlated to the above-mentioned parameter f, both for intra-rare-earth alloys and pure elements at different pressures. The correlation implies that actinium is a superconductor with a critical temperature which could be as high as (11--12) degree K

  20. Soil and river sediments radionuclides monitoring at Aramar Experimental Center: an historical overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Segre, Nadia; Fagundes, Rosane Correa

    2013-01-01

    In order to evaluate possible effects to the environment resulting from the implementation of the Centro Tecnologico da Marinha - Centro Experimental Aramar (CTMSP-CEA) at Ipero in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, which came into operation in 1989, an Environmental Monitoring Program (PMA) was established in October, 1987. One of the aims of this program is to monitor the soil and river sediments radionuclides levels at CEA and beyond its boundary. The utilization of statistical tools to evaluate the results of radiometric environmental monitoring is a procedure required by National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN). The box plot is a simple statistical tool for displaying data. The central tendency and dispersion of the results as well as the observation of unusual results (outliers) in the dataset are easily visualized. Control chart is a graph that maps data and provides a picture of how a process is performing over time. A control chart always has a central line for the mean, an upper line for the upper control limit and a lower line for the lower control limit. Box plots and control charts were used to visualize the annual amount of natural uranium, lead-214, actinium-228 and lead-212 in soil and river sediment detected between 1987 and 2011, considering the measurements of all monitored places each year. This historical observation shows that, in average, the results obtained are below than the 1987-1988 levels (CEA's pre-operational) or below than the backgrounds radionuclides values. (author)

  1. Selective Decontamination Effect of Metal Ions in Soil Using Supercritical CO2 and TBP Complex

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jihye; Park, Kwangheon; Jung, Wonyoung

    2014-01-01

    Decontamination of soil pollution is difficult because the type of contamination largely depends on the characteristics of the pollutant and the area. Also, existing soil decontamination methods generate large quantities of secondary waste and additional process costs. For this reason, new decontamination methods are always under active investigation. A method involving the use of supercritical carbon dioxide with excellent permeability in place of chemical solvents is currently being studied. Unlike other heavy metals in fission products, uranium is used as fuel, and must be handled carefully. Therefore, in this paper, we studied a supercritical carbon dioxide method for decontaminating heavy metal ions in soil using tri-n-butyl phosphate(TBP), which is well known as a ligand for the extraction of metal ions of actinium. We investigated the decontamination effect of heavy metal ions in the soil using TBP-HNO 3 Complex and supercritical carbon dioxide. The study results showed that when heavy metals in soil are extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide, the extraction efficiency is different according to the type of pollutant metal ions in the soil. When TBP-HNO 3 Complex is used with an extractant, uranium extraction is very effective, but lithium, strontium, and cesium extraction is not effective. Therefore, in the case of a mixture of uranium and other metals such as lithium, strontium, cesium, and so on in soil contaminated by fission product leaks from nuclear power plants, we can selectively decontaminate uranium with supercritical carbon dioxide and TBP-HNO 3 Complex

  2. Alpha-emitting nuclides in the marine environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pentreath, R. J.

    1984-06-01

    The occurrence of alpha-emitting nuclides and their daughter products in the marine environment continues to be a subject of study for many reasons. Those nuclides which occur naturally, in the uranium, thorium and actinium series, are of interest because of their value in determining the rates of geological and geochemical processes in the oceans. Studies of them address such problems as the determination of rates of transfer of particulate matter, deposition rates, bioturbation rates, and so on. Two of the natural alpha-series nuclides in which a different interest has been expressed are 210Po and 226Ra, because their concentrations in marine organisms are such that they contribute to a significant fraction of the background dose rates sustained both by the organisms themselves and by consumers of marine fish and shellfish. To this pool of naturally-occurring nuclides, human activities have added the transuranium nuclides, both from the atmospheric testing of nuclear devices and from the authorized discharges of radioactive wastes into coastal waters and the deep sea. Studies have therefore been made to understand the chemistry of these radionuclides in sea water, their association with sedimentary materials, and their accumulation by marine organisms, the last of these being of particular interest because the transuranics are essentially "novel" elements to the marine fauna and flora. The need to predict the long-term behaviour of these nuclides has, in turn, stimulated research on those naturally-occurring nuclides which may behave in a similar manner.

  3. Determination of radium in water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hohorst, F.A.; Huntley, M.W.; Hartenstein, S.D.

    1995-10-01

    These detailed work instructions (DWIs) are tailored for the analysis of radium-226 and radium-228 in drinking water supplies from ground water and surface water sources and composites derived from them. The instructions have been adapted from several sources, including a draft EPA method. One objective was to minimize the generation of mixed wastes. Quantitative determinations of actinium-228 are made at 911 keV. The minimum detection level (MDL) for the gamma spectrometric measurements at this energy vary with matrix, volume, geometry, detector, background, and counting statistics. The range of MDL's for current detectors is 0.07 to 0.5 Bq/sample. Quantitative determinations of radium-226 are made by counting the high energy alpha particles which radium-226 progeny emit using liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The minimum detectable activity (MDA) is 3.8 E-3 Bq/sample. The maximum concentration which may be counted on available instruments without dilution is about 2 E + 5 Bq/sample. Typically, this determination of radium in a 2 L sample has a yield of 80%. If radium-228 is determined using a 16 h count after 50 h grow-in, the typical MDL is 1 E-9 to 8 E-9 μCi/mL (1 to 8 pCi/L). If radium-226 is determined using a 2.5 h count after 150 h grow-in, the typical MDA is about 1 E-10 μCi/mL (0. 1 pCi/L)

  4. Soil and river sediments radionuclides monitoring at Aramar Experimental Center: an historical overview

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Segre, Nadia; Fagundes, Rosane Correa, E-mail: nadia.segre@ctmsp.mar.mil.br [Centro Tecnologico da Marinha (CTM-SP/CEA/LARE), Ipero, SP (Brazil). Centro Experimental Aramar. Lab. Radioecologico; Moraes, Marco Antonio P.V. [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)

    2013-07-01

    In order to evaluate possible effects to the environment resulting from the implementation of the Centro Tecnologico da Marinha - Centro Experimental Aramar (CTMSP-CEA) at Ipero in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, which came into operation in 1989, an Environmental Monitoring Program (PMA) was established in October, 1987. One of the aims of this program is to monitor the soil and river sediments radionuclides levels at CEA and beyond its boundary. The utilization of statistical tools to evaluate the results of radiometric environmental monitoring is a procedure required by National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN). The box plot is a simple statistical tool for displaying data. The central tendency and dispersion of the results as well as the observation of unusual results (outliers) in the dataset are easily visualized. Control chart is a graph that maps data and provides a picture of how a process is performing over time. A control chart always has a central line for the mean, an upper line for the upper control limit and a lower line for the lower control limit. Box plots and control charts were used to visualize the annual amount of natural uranium, lead-214, actinium-228 and lead-212 in soil and river sediment detected between 1987 and 2011, considering the measurements of all monitored places each year. This historical observation shows that, in average, the results obtained are below than the 1987-1988 levels (CEA's pre-operational) or below than the backgrounds radionuclides values. (author)

  5. Mitigation of radiation nephropathy after internal α-particle irradiation of kidneys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jaggi, Jaspreet Singh; Seshan, Surya V.; McDevitt, Michael R.; Sgouros, George; Hyjek, Elizabeth; Scheinberg, David A.

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: Internal irradiation of kidneys as a consequence of radioimmunotherapy, radiation accidents, or nuclear terrorism can result in radiation nephropathy. We attempted to modify pharmacologically, the functional and morphologic changes in mouse kidneys after injection with the actinium ( 225 Ac) nanogenerator, an in vivo generator of α- and β-particle emitting elements. Methods and Materials: The animals were injected with 0.35 μCi of the 225 Ac nanogenerator, which delivers a dose of 27.6 Gy to the kidneys. Then, they were randomized to receive captopril (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor), L-158,809 (angiotensin II receptor-1 blocker), spironolactone (aldosterone receptor antagonist), or a placebo. Results: Forty weeks after the 225 Ac injection, the placebo-control mice showed a significant increase in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (87.6 ± 6.9 mg/dL), dilated Bowman spaces, and tubulolysis with basement membrane thickening. Captopril treatment accentuated the functional (BUN 119.0 ± 4.0 mg/dL; p <0.01 vs. placebo controls) and histopathologic damage. In contrast, L-158,809 offered moderate protection (BUN 66.6 ± 3.9 mg/dL; p = 0.02 vs. placebo controls). Spironolactone treatment, however, significantly prevented the development of histopathologic and functional changes (BUN 31.2 ± 2.5 mg/dL; p <0.001 vs. placebo controls). Conclusions: Low-dose spironolactone and, to a lesser extent, angiotensin receptor-1 blockade can offer renal protection in a mouse model of internal α-particle irradiation

  6. Selective alpha-particle mediated depletion of tumor vasculature with vascular normalization.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaspreet Singh Jaggi

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Abnormal regulation of angiogenesis in tumors results in the formation of vessels that are necessary for tumor growth, but compromised in structure and function. Abnormal tumor vasculature impairs oxygen and drug delivery and results in radiotherapy and chemotherapy resistance, respectively. Alpha particles are extraordinarily potent, short-ranged radiations with geometry uniquely suitable for selectively killing neovasculature.Actinium-225 ((225Ac-E4G10, an alpha-emitting antibody construct reactive with the unengaged form of vascular endothelial cadherin, is capable of potent, selective killing of tumor neovascular endothelium and late endothelial progenitors in bone-marrow and blood. No specific normal-tissue uptake of E4G10 was seen by imaging or post-mortem biodistribution studies in mice. In a mouse-model of prostatic carcinoma, (225Ac-E4G10 treatment resulted in inhibition of tumor growth, lower serum prostate specific antigen level and markedly prolonged survival, which was further enhanced by subsequent administration of paclitaxel. Immunohistochemistry revealed lower vessel density and enhanced tumor cell apoptosis in (225Ac-E4G10 treated tumors. Additionally, the residual tumor vasculature appeared normalized as evident by enhanced pericyte coverage following (225Ac-E4G10 therapy. However, no toxicity was observed in vascularized normal organs following (225Ac-E4G10 therapy.The data suggest that alpha-particle immunotherapy to neovasculature, alone or in combination with sequential chemotherapy, is an effective approach to cancer therapy.

  7. Determination of radium in water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hohorst, F.A.; Huntley, M.W.; Hartenstein, S.D.

    1995-10-01

    These detailed work instructions (DWIs) are tailored for the analysis of radium-226 and radium-228 in drinking water supplies from ground water and surface water sources and composites derived from them. The instructions have been adapted from several sources, including a draft EPA method. One objective was to minimize the generation of mixed wastes. Quantitative determinations of actinium-228 are made at 911 keV. The minimum detection level (MDL) for the gamma spectrometric measurements at this energy vary with matrix, volume, geometry, detector, background, and counting statistics. The range of MDL`s for current detectors is 0.07 to 0.5 Bq/sample. Quantitative determinations of radium-226 are made by counting the high energy alpha particles which radium-226 progeny emit using liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The minimum detectable activity (MDA) is 3.8 E-3 Bq/sample. The maximum concentration which may be counted on available instruments without dilution is about 2 E + 5 Bq/sample. Typically, this determination of radium in a 2 L sample has a yield of 80%. If radium-228 is determined using a 16 h count after 50 h grow-in, the typical MDL is 1 E-9 to 8 E-9 {mu}Ci/mL (1 to 8 pCi/L). If radium-226 is determined using a 2.5 h count after 150 h grow-in, the typical MDA is about 1 E-10 {mu}Ci/mL (0. 1 pCi/L).

  8. Natural radionuclides in soils of a forest fragment of Atlantic Forest under ecological restoration process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, F.S.; Lira, M.B.; Souza, E.M.; França, E.J.

    2017-01-01

    The natural radioactive isotopes come from the radioactive series of the 238 U (Uranium Series), the 235 U (Actinium Series) and the 232 Th (Thorium Series) series, or they can occur in isolation as is the case with the 40 K. Primordial radionuclides such as 40 K, 232 Th, 235 U and 238 U exist since the formation of the earth, being found in appreciable amounts in nature and in some cases may present a mass activity above the acceptable of environmental radiation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the mass activity of 40 K, 226 Ra and 228 Ra in the soils of a fragment of Atlantic Forest under ecological restoration process located in the Municipality of Paulista, PE, Brazil. Soil samples (0 - 15 cm) were collected under the projection of the treetops of the most abundant trees in the region. After drying and comminution, analytical portions of 40 g were transferred to polyethylene petri dishes, sealed and stored for 30 days to ensure secular equilibrium. Radioactivity was quantified by High Resolution Gamma Spectrometry - EGAR. The mean physical activities of 40 K, 226 Ra and 228 Ra were 12, 15 and 20 Bq kg -1 , respectively, for the surface soil of the Parque Natural Municipal Mata do Frio. The values found were lower than those found in mangroves in the state of Pernambuco and those considered normal for soils worldwide

  9. Selective Decontamination Effect of Metal Ions in Soil Using Supercritical CO{sub 2} and TBP Complex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Jihye; Park, Kwangheon; Jung, Wonyoung [Kyunghee Univ., Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    Decontamination of soil pollution is difficult because the type of contamination largely depends on the characteristics of the pollutant and the area. Also, existing soil decontamination methods generate large quantities of secondary waste and additional process costs. For this reason, new decontamination methods are always under active investigation. A method involving the use of supercritical carbon dioxide with excellent permeability in place of chemical solvents is currently being studied. Unlike other heavy metals in fission products, uranium is used as fuel, and must be handled carefully. Therefore, in this paper, we studied a supercritical carbon dioxide method for decontaminating heavy metal ions in soil using tri-n-butyl phosphate(TBP), which is well known as a ligand for the extraction of metal ions of actinium. We investigated the decontamination effect of heavy metal ions in the soil using TBP-HNO{sub 3} Complex and supercritical carbon dioxide. The study results showed that when heavy metals in soil are extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide, the extraction efficiency is different according to the type of pollutant metal ions in the soil. When TBP-HNO{sub 3} Complex is used with an extractant, uranium extraction is very effective, but lithium, strontium, and cesium extraction is not effective. Therefore, in the case of a mixture of uranium and other metals such as lithium, strontium, cesium, and so on in soil contaminated by fission product leaks from nuclear power plants, we can selectively decontaminate uranium with supercritical carbon dioxide and TBP-HNO{sub 3} Complex.

  10. Radiological survey of the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, Missouri

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldsmith, W.A.; Leggett, R.W.; Haywood, F.F.

    1981-12-01

    The results of a radiological survey of part of the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works (former Destrehan and Broadway Street plants), St. Louis, Missouri, are presented. During the period 1942 through 1957, this site was used for various projects involving the production of purified uranium from pitchblende concentrates. The survey included measurements of the following: residual alpha and beta-gamma contamination levels in the existing buildings that were used in the uranium projects; external gamma radiation levels at 1 m above the surface in these buildings and outdoors around these buildings; radon and radon daughter concentrations in the air in these buildings; uranium, radium, actinium, and thorium concentrations in surface and subsurface soil on the site; concentrations of radionuclides in water and sediment found in drains both inside and outside the buildings; and concentrations of radionuclides in ground and surface water on the site and in river water taken near the site. Alpha and beta-gamma contamination levels inside and outside some of the buildings were above limits set by current federal guidelines concerning the release of property for unrestricted use. Elevated external gamma radiation levels were measured at some outdoor locations and in some of the buildings. Licensable concentrations of uranium were found in soil at some places, and the concentration of uranium in a water sample taken from a core hole between Buildings 100 and 101 was in excess of limits set by current federal standards. Radon and radon daughter concentrations in three buildings were in excess of current federal guidelines for nonoccupational radiation exposure

  11. Radiological survey of the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, Missouri

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goldsmith, W A; Leggett, R W; Haywood, F F

    1981-12-01

    The results of a radiological survey of part of the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works (former Destrehan and Broadway Street plants), St. Louis, Missouri, are presented. During the period 1942 through 1957, this site was used for various projects involving the production of purified uranium from pitchblende concentrates. The survey included measurements of the following: residual alpha and beta-gamma contamination levels in the existing buildings that were used in the uranium projects; external gamma radiation levels at 1 m above the surface in these buildings and outdoors around these buildings; radon and radon daughter concentrations in the air in these buildings; uranium, radium, actinium, and thorium concentrations in surface and subsurface soil on the site; concentrations of radionuclides in water and sediment found in drains both inside and outside the buildings; and concentrations of radionuclides in ground and surface water on the site and in river water taken near the site. Alpha and beta-gamma contamination levels inside and outside some of the buildings were above limits set by current federal guidelines concerning the release of property for unrestricted use. Elevated external gamma radiation levels were measured at some outdoor locations and in some of the buildings. Licensable concentrations of uranium were found in soil at some places, and the concentration of uranium in a water sample taken from a core hole between Buildings 100 and 101 was in excess of limits set by current federal standards. Radon and radon daughter concentrations in three buildings were in excess of current federal guidelines for nonoccupational radiation exposure.

  12. Radiation sources and process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honious, H.B.; Janzow, E.F.; Malson, H.A.; Moyer, S.E.

    1980-01-01

    The invention relates to radiation sources comprising a substrate having an electrically-conductive non-radioactive metal surface, a layer of a metal radioactive isotope of the scandium group, which in addition to scandium, yttrium, lanthanum and actinium, includes all the lanthanide and actinide series of elements, with the actinide series usually being preferred because of the nature of the radioactive isotopes therein, particularly americium-241, curium-244, plutonium-238, californium-252 and promethium-147, and a non-radioactive bonding metal codeposited on the surface by electroplating the isotope and bonding metal from an electrolytic solution, the isotope being present in the layer in minor amount as compared to the bonding metal, and with or without a non-radioactive protective metal coating covering the isotoype and bonding metal on the surface, the coating being sufficiently thin to permit radiation to pass through the coating. The invention also relates to a process for providing radiation sources comprising codepositing a layer of the metal radioactive isotope with a non-radioactive bonding metal from an electrolytic solution in which the isotope is present in minor molar amount as compared to the bonding metal such that the codeposited layer contains a minor molar amount of the isotope compared to the bonding metal by electroplating on an electrically-conductive non-radioactive metal surface of a cathode substrate, and with or without depositing a nonradioactive protective metal coating over the isotope and bonding metal on the surface, the coating being sufficiently thin to permit radiation to pass through the coating

  13. Natural radionuclides in soils of a forest fragment of Atlantic Forest under ecological restoration process; Radionuclídeos naturais em solos de um fragmento florestal de Mata Atlântica sob processo de restauração ecológica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferreira, F.S.; Lira, M.B.; Souza, E.M.; França, E.J., E-mail: biologofabiano10@gmail.com [Centro Regional de Ciências Nucleares do Nordeste (CRCN-NE/CNEN-PE), Recife, PE (Brazil)

    2017-07-01

    The natural radioactive isotopes come from the radioactive series of the {sup 238}U (Uranium Series), the {sup 235}U (Actinium Series) and the {sup 232}Th (Thorium Series) series, or they can occur in isolation as is the case with the {sup 40}K. Primordial radionuclides such as {sup 40}K, {sup 232}Th, {sup 235}U and {sup 238}U exist since the formation of the earth, being found in appreciable amounts in nature and in some cases may present a mass activity above the acceptable of environmental radiation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the mass activity of {sup 40}K, {sup 226}Ra and {sup 228}Ra in the soils of a fragment of Atlantic Forest under ecological restoration process located in the Municipality of Paulista, PE, Brazil. Soil samples (0 - 15 cm) were collected under the projection of the treetops of the most abundant trees in the region. After drying and comminution, analytical portions of 40 g were transferred to polyethylene petri dishes, sealed and stored for 30 days to ensure secular equilibrium. Radioactivity was quantified by High Resolution Gamma Spectrometry - EGAR. The mean physical activities of {sup 40}K, {sup 226}Ra and {sup 228}Ra were 12, 15 and 20 Bq kg{sup -1}, respectively, for the surface soil of the Parque Natural Municipal Mata do Frio. The values found were lower than those found in mangroves in the state of Pernambuco and those considered normal for soils worldwide.

  14. Anomalies of Nuclear Criticality, Revision 6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clayton, E.D.; Prichard, Andrew W.; Durst, Bonita E.; Erickson, David; Puigh, Raymond J.

    2010-01-01

    This report is revision 6 of the Anomalies of Nuclear Criticality. This report is required reading for the training of criticality professionals in many organizations both nationally and internationally. This report describes many different classes of nuclear criticality anomalies that are different than expected. An anomaly is defined as something not in keeping with expected notions of fitness and order, a departure from the regular arrangement or general rule. In reviewing the literature and experimental data on nuclear criticality and the conditions under which a fission chain reaction can be achieved, a number of anomalies have come to light. The actinide group is composed of the fourteen elements beginning with thorium, Atomic No. 90, and ending with lawrencium, Atomic No. 103. There are about 220 known actinide isotopes, most of which are believed capable of supporting neutron chain reactions. Although every element in the actinide group has at least one isotope believed capable of supporting a chain reaction, from a practical point of view regarding the time for chemical processing, only those nuclides with half-lives more than several weeks are of obvious concern in criticality safety. Forty-six of the nuclides are known to have half-lives greater than six weeks. The selection of six weeks is somewhat arbitrary. There may well be shorter-lived nuclides of concern in criticality safety. These 46 nuclides are identified in Figure 44. Of the 46 nuclides, 4 are known and 37 are believed to be capable of supporting chain reactions, and 5 are known or believed to not support a chain reaction. Figure 44 was constructed in the format used for the Chart of the Nuclides.(1) Figure 44 also shows the distinction between fissile and fissible nuclides. The actinides derive their name from actinium (Atomic No. 89) because they tend to maintain an actinium-like electron structure as the fourteen inner electrons are added to the 5f electron shell. Actually, electrons do

  15. The effects of actinide separation on the radiological consequences of disposal of high-level radioactive waste on the ocean bed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Camplin, W.C.; Grimwood, P.D.; White, I.F.

    1980-01-01

    One option in the management of high-level radioactive wastes is to separate the actinides prior to vitrification and disposal. This option is examined in the context of disposal of high-level wastes on the deep ocean bed. The initial quantity of waste corresponds to the generation of 1000 GW(e)y of nuclear energy, and the actinide-separation process is assumed to remove 99% of all elements of atomic number greater than that of actinium. The models used to describe the dispersion of activity from a single disposal site on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean represent both local dispersion and long-term mixing. Collective doses and doses to individuals are calculated for six potential pathways: ingestion of fish, crustacea, molluscs, plankton and seaweed, and external irradiation from contaminated beach sediments. The period from 400 to 1,000,000 years after disposal is considered. The potential radiological impact from disposal of high-level waste without separation of actinides on the ocean bed arises from the actinides; isotopes of americium, neptunium and plutonium give the highest doses. Actinide separation would reduce these doses in proportion to the effectiveness of the separation process, until doses become determined by fission products rather than actinides: the achievable dose reduction would be a factor of approximately a hundred, or less for certain pathways. This reduction applies only to doses to the public from waste disposal: no account was taken of doses arising from the separation process itself or from the management of the separated actinides. The results of the assessment are contrasted with those of similar studies based on toxicity indices. Major deficiencies are identified in the use of toxicity indices as a basis for decision-making. (author)

  16. The Properties of Trilaurylmethylammonium Nitrate as an Extractant for Trivalent Actinides. RCN Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ooyen, J. van

    1970-03-01

    The concept of the group of the actinide elements as a f-type transition series within the periodic system was first launched by G.T. Seaborg in 1944]. In this transition series the filling up of the 5 f electron shell would cause a close similarity with the lanthanide series. This proved to be a very fruitful hypothesis in the prediction of the properties of the new elements americium and curium that soon were discovered. The new hypothesis necessitated a shift of the accepted ideas concerning the place of the elements thorium, protactinium and uranium in the periodic table. In fact, the chemistry of these elements had never been considered to be so closely parallel to that of the lanthanides. On the contrary, the trend in the stability of the oxidation states had been interpreted to indicate that these elements would belong to group IVA, VA and VIA respectively. It is undeniable that there are marked differences in oxidation states between the lanthanide elements and the first six elements of the actinide series. However, physical and chemical investigations both of the newly discovered elements and the elements actinium to uranium disclosed many resemblances with the lanthanides that had not been noticed before in this group. The actinide elements - and more in particular the transuranium elements - have been the subject of a number of monographs covering the discovery, the synthesis, the systematics, the chemistry, and (or) the nuclear properties of these elements. It is for this reason that the scope of the following sections in this chapter will be limited to a summary of the chemistry in sofar as it is relevant to the investigations described in the following chapters, viz., the properties of the elements in aqueous systems and more in particular in those systems containing nitrate ions

  17. Radiological analysis of environmental samples in some points of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and Coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salas Mar, Bernardo; Martinez Negrete, Marco Antonio; Ruiz Chavarria, Gerardo; Abarca Munguia, Jose

    2008-01-01

    Full text: We describe in this paper the results obtained by the project 'Radiological analysis of environmental samples in some points of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico'. The purpose of the study is to identify and quantify the natural and anthropogenic radionuclides present from sediments, sand and seawater from several sites located along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribean Sea. The samples are analysed in a Canberra Multichannel analyzer system for gamma spectrometry, equipped with a detector of hyper pure germanium and a Genie 2000 software, in the 'Laboratory of Radiological Analysis of Environmental Samples', belonging to the Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The geographic sites were samples were taken include the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. The results of this studies will be published at the end of the project and we hope they will be useful for the national health and industrial sectors. Until now we have identified and measured the presence of natural radionuclides such as Potassium-40 (K-40), Bismuth 212 (Bi-212), Lead-212 (Pb-212), Bismuth-214 (Bi-214), Lead-214 (Pb-214), Radium-226 (Ra-226), Actinium 228 (Ac-228), Uranium-235 (U-235), as well as some anthropogenic radionuclides found near the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant. The project is scheduled to last for three years, finishing in 2009. At its ending we shall be able to present conclusions and identify some tendencies, in connection with the background and possible radioactive contamination of the studied zones. This project takes place under the auspice of the 'Program of Support to Projects of Research and Technological Innovation' of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. (author)

  18. Complexes of groups 3,4, the lanthanides and the actinides containing neutral phophorus donor ligands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fryzuk, M.D.; Haddad, T.S.; Berg, D.J.

    1990-01-01

    Of relevance to this review are complexes of the early transition elements, in particular groups 3 and 4 and the lanthanides and actinides. In this review the authors have attempted to collect all the data up to the end of 1988 for complexed of groups 3 and 4, the lanthanides and the actinides that contain phosphorus donor ligands. The 1989s have seen a renaissance of the use of phosphine donors for the early d elements (groups 3 and 4) and the f elements. Neutral phosphorus donors are defined as primary (PH 2 R), secondary (PH 2 ) or tertiary phosphines (PR 3 ), including complexes of phosphine, PH 3 . Also reviewed are complexes of PF 3 and phosphites, P(OR) 3 . Specifically excluded are phosphido derivates, PR 2 . The ability of a neutral phosphorus donor to bind the metals of groups 3 and 4, the lanthanides and the actinides is now well established. While there are still no examples of lanthanum or actinium phosphine complexes, such derivatives should be accessible at least for lanthanum. series. However, there is no obvious chemical reason to suggest that such derivatives cannot be generated. The phosphine ligands that appear to generate the most stable phosphine-metal interaction are chelating phosphines such as dmpe, trmpe and trimpsi. In addition, the use of the chelate effect in conjunction with a hard ligand such as the amide in - N(SiMe 2 CH 2 PMe 2 ) 2 , or an alkoxide as found in - OC(BU t ) 2 CH 2 PMe 2 , also appears to be effective in anchoring the phosphine donor to the metal. The majority of low oxidation state derivatives of the group 4 elements are stabilized by phosphine donors in contrast with other parts of the transition series where one finds that classic π-acceptor-type ligands such as CO or RNC are utilized. 233 refs

  19. Alpha-emitting isotopes and chromium in a coastal California aquifer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Densmore, Jill N.; Izbicki, John A.; Murtaugh, Joseph M.; Swarzenski, Peter W.; Bullen, Thomas D.

    2014-01-01

    The unadjusted 72-h gross alpha activities in water from two wells completed in marine and alluvial deposits in a coastal southern California aquifer 40 km north of San Diego were 15 and 25 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). Although activities were below the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 15 pCi/L, when adjusted for uranium activity; there is concern that new wells in the area may exceed MCLs, or that future regulations may limit water use from the wells. Coupled well-bore flow and depth-dependent water-quality data collected from the wells in 2011 (with analyses for isotopes within the uranium, actinium, and thorium decay-chains) show gross alpha activity in marine deposits is associated with decay of naturally-occurring 238U and its daughter 234U. Radon activities in marine deposits were as high as 2230 pCi/L. In contrast, gross alpha activities in overlying alluvium within the Piedra de Lumbre watershed, eroded from the nearby San Onofre Hills, were associated with decay of 232Th, including its daughter 224Ra. Radon activities in alluvium from Piedra de Lumbre of 450 pCi/L were lower than in marine deposits. Chromium VI concentrations in marine deposits were less than the California MCL of 10 μg/L (effective July 1, 2014) but δ53Cr compositions were near zero and within reported ranges for anthropogenic chromium. Alluvial deposits from the nearby Las Flores watershed, which drains a larger area having diverse geology, has low alpha activities and chromium as a result of geologic and geochemical conditions and may be more promising for future water-supply development.

  20. Alpha Emitting Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals for Therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chérel, Michel; Barbet, Jacques

    2013-01-01

    Today, cancer treatments mainly rely on surgery or external beam radiation to remove or destroy bulky tumors. Chemotherapy is given when tumours cannot be removed or when dissemination is suspected. However, these approaches cannot permanently treat all cancers and relapse occurs in up to 50% of the patients’ population. Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) are effective against some disseminated and metastatic diseases, although they are rarely curative. Most preclinical and clinical developments in this field have involved electron-emitting radionuclides, particularly iodine-131, yttrium-90 and lutetium-177. The large range of the electrons emitted by these radionuclides reduces their efficacy against very small tumour cell clusters or isolated tumour cells present in residual disease and in many haematological tumours (leukaemia, myeloma). The range of alpha particles in biological tissues is very short, less than 0.1 mm, which makes alpha emitters theoretically ideal for treatment of such isolated tumour cells or micro-clusters of malignant cells. Thus, over the last decade, a growing interest for the use of alpha-emitting radionuclides has emerged. Research on targeted alpha therapy (TAT) began years ago in Nantes through cooperation between Subatech, a nuclear physics laboratory, CRCNA, a cancer research centre with a nuclear oncology team and ITU (Karlsruhe, Germany). CD138 was demonstrated as a potential target antigen for Multiple Myeloma, which is a target of huge clinical interest particularly suited for TAT because of the disseminated nature of the disease consisting primarily of isolated cells and small clusters of tumour cells mainly localized in the bone marrow. Thus anti-CD138 antibodies were labelled with bismuth-213 from actinium-225/bismuth-213 generators provided by ITU and used to target multiple myeloma cells. In vitro studies showed cell cycle arrest, synergism with chemotherapy and very little induction

  1. An aerial radiological survey of the Nevada Test Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hendricks, T.J.; Riedhauser, S.R.

    1999-01-01

    A team from the Remote Sensing Laboratory conducted an aerial radiological survey of the US Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site including three neighboring areas during August and September 1994. The survey team measured the terrestrial gamma radiation at the Nevada Test Site to determine the levels of natural and man-made radiation. This survey included the areas covered by previous surveys conducted from 1962 through 1993. The results of the aerial survey showed a terrestrial background exposure rate that varied from less than 6 microroentgens per hour (mR/h) to 50 mR/h plus a cosmic-ray contribution that varied from 4.5 mR/h at an elevation of 900 meters (3,000 feet) to 8.5 mR/h at 2,400 meters (8,000 feet). In addition to the principal gamma-emitting, naturally occurring isotopes (potassium-40, thallium-208, bismuth-214, and actinium-228), the man-made radioactive isotopes found in this survey were cobalt-60, cesium-137, europium-152, protactinium-234m an indicator of depleted uranium, and americium-241, which are due to human actions in the survey area. Individual, site-wide plots of gross terrestrial exposure rate, man-made exposure rate, and americium-241 activity (approximating the distribution of all transuranic material) are presented. In addition, expanded plots of individual areas exhibiting these man-made contaminations are given. A comparison is made between the data from this survey and previous aerial radiological surveys of the Nevada Test Site. Some previous ground-based measurements are discussed and related to the aerial data. In regions away from man-made activity, the exposure rates inferred from the gamma-ray measurements collected during this survey agreed very well with the exposure rates inferred from previous aerial surveys

  2. Study of the production of residual evaporation nuclei issued from the spallation reaction of uranium-238 by 1 GeV protons; Etude de la production de noyaux residuels d'evaporation issus de la reaction de spallation de l'uranium-238 par des protons a 1 GeV

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Taieb, J

    2000-10-01

    The spallation reaction by high energy protons is one of the envisaged nuclear reactions for production of exotic nuclei. We have measured the production of more than 300 different evaporation residues issued by the spallation reaction of Uranium-238 by 1 GeV protons. We used the reverse kinematics technique in order to produce the relativistic nuclei and therefore to be able to detect those nuclides within a very short time, shorter in most cases than the radioactive disintegration period. The achieved nuclear charge and mass resolution are excellent. They allow a good accuracy on the values of the measured cross-sections (10 to 15%). We have observed for the first time the nuclide Actinium-235 obtained consequently to the loss of 3 protons by the projectile. The measured isotopic distribution are strongly influenced by the mechanism of fission which leads to a strong reduction of the production of the heavy neutron deficient isotopes. We have compared our results to some other measurements achieved with radio-chemical methods at a similar energy. We observed a systematic disagreement of about 40%. Some comparison with the available systematics show that those are presently not able to reproduce the data with a reasonable precision. We could also measure the recoil momentum distribution for each studied isotopes. We show that Goldhaber's model agrees very well with the experiment in case. of 'cold' channels where the evaporation of particles never occurs. On the other hand, when the produced pre-fragment is excited the data show that Goldhaber's model does not reproduce.the data showing the limitation of such an approach. We finally tried to reproduce the measurement of evaporation residue cross-section thanks to the coupling of intra-nuclear cascade and statistical evaporation codes. The influence of the fission process is rather important is the system p+U; we therefore had to account for the dynamical aspect of the fission. We also showed

  3. Alpha-emitting isotopes and chromium in a coastal California aquifer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Densmore, Jill N.; Izbicki, John A.; Murtaugh, Joseph M.; Swarzenski, Peter W.; Bullen, Thomas D.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Alluvium in Piedra de Lumbre basin higher radionuclides likely from natural Th. • Natural uranium decay-chain isotopes, including Ra, present in marine deposits. • Marine deposits also contain low concentrations of chromium. • Radionuclides and chromium concentrations lower in alluvium in the Las Flores basin. - Abstract: The unadjusted 72-h gross alpha activities in water from two wells completed in marine and alluvial deposits in a coastal southern California aquifer 40 km north of San Diego were 15 and 25 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). Although activities were below the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 15 pCi/L, when adjusted for uranium activity; there is concern that new wells in the area may exceed MCLs, or that future regulations may limit water use from the wells. Coupled well-bore flow and depth-dependent water-quality data collected from the wells in 2011 (with analyses for isotopes within the uranium, actinium, and thorium decay-chains) show gross alpha activity in marine deposits is associated with decay of naturally-occurring 238 U and its daughter 234 U. Radon activities in marine deposits were as high as 2230 pCi/L. In contrast, gross alpha activities in overlying alluvium within the Piedra de Lumbre watershed, eroded from the nearby San Onofre Hills, were associated with decay of 232 Th, including its daughter 224 Ra. Radon activities in alluvium from Piedra de Lumbre of 450 pCi/L were lower than in marine deposits. Chromium VI concentrations in marine deposits were less than the California MCL of 10 μg/L (effective July 1, 2014) but δ 53 Cr compositions were near zero and within reported ranges for anthropogenic chromium. Alluvial deposits from the nearby Las Flores watershed, which drains a larger area having diverse geology, has low alpha activities and chromium as a result of geologic and geochemical conditions and may be more promising for future water-supply development

  4. The discovery of plutonium reorganized the periodic table and aided the discovery of new elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, David L.

    2009-01-01

    The modern Periodic Table derives principally from the work of the great Russian scientist Dimitri Mendeleev, who in 1869 enunciated a 'periodic law' that the properties of the elements are a periodic function of their atomic weights, and arranged the 65 known elements in a 'periodic table'. Fundamentally, every column in the main body of the Periodic Table is a grouping of elements that display similar chemical and physical behavior. Similar properties are therefore exhibited by elements with widely different mass. Chemical periodicity is central to the study of chemistry, and no other generalization comes close to its ability to systematize and rationalize known chemical facts. With the development of atomic theory, and an understanding of the electronic structure of atoms, chemical periodicity and the periodic table now find their natural explanation in the electronic structure of atoms. Moving from left to right along any row, the elements are arranged sequentially according to nuclear charge (the atomic number). Electrons counter balance that nuclear charge, hence each successive element has one more electron in its configuration. The electron configuration, or distribution of electrons among atomic orbitals, may be determined by application of the Pauli principle (paired spin in the same orbital) and the aufbau principle (which outlines the order of filling of electrons into shells of orbitals - s, p, d, f, etc.) such that in a given atom, no two electrons may have all four quantum numbers identical. In 1939, only three elements were known to be heavier than actinium: thorium, protactinium, and uranium. All three exhibited variable oxidation states and a complex chemistry. Thorium, protactinium and uranium were assumed to be d-transition metals and were placed in the Periodic Table under hafnium, tantalum, and tungsten, respectively. By 1940, McMillan and Abelson bombarded uranium atoms with slow neutrons and successfully identified atoms of element 93, which

  5. Termination of Safeguards on ULWBR Material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivan R. Thomas; Ernest L. Laible

    2008-01-01

    The Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management, has approved the disposition of 31 metric tons of Unirradiated Light Water Breeder Reactor (ULWBR) material in canisters stored within dry wells of the Underground Fuel Storage Facility at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC). This unirradiated material consists primarily of ceramic pellets of thorium oxide in stainless steel cladding, but it also contains 300 kilograms of uranium that is 98 wt% U-233. The ULWBR material was not processed at the INTEC because it was incompatible with prior chemical separation schemes. Other economical recovery options have not been identified, and expressions of interest for consolidating the material with existing projects at other DOE sites have not been received. The U-233 could be used for producing the medical isotope Actinium-225, but the proof-of-principle demonstration and follow-on pilot program have not been developed to the point of requiring production quantities of U-233. Consequently, the selected disposition of the ULWBR material was burial as Low Level Waste at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which required terminating safeguards controls for the contained Category II quantity of Attractiveness Level D special nuclear material (SNM). The requested termination followed the twelve point evaluation criteria of the Historical Defense Program Discard Guidance and included a security analysis for evaluating the risks of theft, diversion, and radiological sabotage associated with the material. Continuity of knowledge in the book inventory was assured by documenting that the original shipper's measurements accurately reflected the quantities of materials received and that the ULWBR materials had remained under adequate physical protection and had been subject to periodic physical inventories. The method selected for substantiating the book values as the basis for terminating safeguards was the nondestructive assay used during physical

  6. Optimizing labelling conditions of 213Bi-DOTATATE for preclinical applications of peptide receptor targeted alpha therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Ho Sze; de Blois, Erik; Konijnenberg, Mark W; Morgenstern, Alfred; Bruchertseifer, Frank; Norenberg, Jeffrey P; Verzijlbergen, Fred J; de Jong, Marion; Breeman, Wouter A P

    2017-01-01

    213 Bismuth ( 213 Bi, T 1/2 = 45.6 min) is one of the most frequently used α-emitters in cancer research. High specific activity radioligands are required for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy. The use of generators containing less than 222 MBq 225 Ac (actinium), due to limited availability and the high cost to produce large-scale 225 Ac/ 213 Bi generators, might complicate in vitro and in vivo applications though.Here we present optimized labelling conditions of a DOTA-peptide with an 225 Ac/ 213 Bi generator (< 222 MBq) for preclinical applications using DOTA-Tyr 3 -octreotate (DOTATATE), a somatostatin analogue. The following labelling conditions of DOTATATE with 213 Bi were investigated; peptide mass was varied from 1.7 to 7.0 nmol, concentration of TRIS buffer from 0.15 mol.L -1 to 0.34 mol.L -1 , and ascorbic acid from 0 to 71 mmol.L -1 in 800 μL. All reactions were performed at 95 °C for 5 min. After incubation, DTPA (50 nmol) was added to stop the labelling reaction. Besides optimizing the labelling conditions, incorporation yield was determined by ITLC-SG and radiochemical purity (RCP) was monitored by RP-HPLC up to 120 min after labelling. Dosimetry studies in the reaction vial were performed using Monte Carlo and in vitro clonogenic assay was performed with a rat pancreatic tumour cell line, CA20948. At least 3.5 nmol DOTATATE was required to obtain incorporation ≥ 99 % with 100 MBq 213 Bi (at optimized pH conditions, pH 8.3 with 0.15 mol.L -1 TRIS) in a reaction volume of 800 μL. The cumulative absorbed dose in the reaction vial was 230 Gy/100 MBq in 30 min. A minimal final concentration of 0.9 mmol.L -1 ascorbic acid was required for ~100 MBq (t = 0) to minimize radiation damage of DOTATATE. The osmolarity was decreased to 0.45 Osmol/L.Under optimized labelling conditions, 213 Bi-DOTATATE remained stable up to 2 h after labelling, RCP was ≥ 85 %. In vitro showed a negative correlation between ascorbic acid

  7. Radiation Doses to Members of the U.S. Population from Ubiquitous Radionuclides in the Body: Part 3, Results, Variability, and Uncertainty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watson, David J.; Strom, Daniel J.

    2011-01-01

    This paper is part three of a three-part series investigating annual effective doses to residents of the United States from intakes of ubiquitous radionuclides, including radionuclides occurring naturally, radionuclides whose concentrations are technologically enhanced, and anthropogenic radionuclides. The radionuclides of interest are the 238 U series (14 nuclides), the actinium series (headed by 235 U; 11 nuclides), and the 232 Th series (11 nuclides); primordial radionuclides 87 Rb and 40 K; cosmogenic and fallout radionuclides 14 C and 3 H; and purely anthropogenic radionuclides 137 Cs- 137m Ba, 129 I and 90 Sr- 90 Y. This series of papers explicitly excludes intakes from inhaling 222 Rn, 220 Rn, and their short-lived decay products; it also excludes intakes of radionuclides in occupational and medical settings. Part one reviewed, summarized, characterized, and grouped all published and some unpublished data for U.S. residents on ubiquitous radionuclide concentrations in tissues and organs. Part two described the methods used to organize the data collected in part one and segregate it into the ages and genders defined by the study, imputed missing values from the existing data, apportioned activity in bone, and imputed activity in hollow organ contents and the remainder of the body. This paper estimates equivalent doses to target tissues from source regions and maps target tissues to lists of tissues with International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) tissue-weighting factors or to surrogate tissue regions when there is no direct match. Effective doses, using ICRP tissue-weighting factors recommended in 1977, 1990, and 2007, are then calculated, and an upper bound of variability of the effective dose is estimated by calculating the average coefficients of variation (CV), assuming all variance is due to variability. Most of the data were for adult males, whose average annual effective dose is estimated to be 337 (micro)Sv y -1 (CV = 0.65, geometric mean

  8. The contribution of radioisotopes in secular equilibrium in the transport index of fissile uranium compounds in different enrichments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, Teresinha de Moraes da; Sordi, Gian M.A.A.

    2008-01-01

    radioisotopes in secular equilibrium have been made with the thorium 234 Th and protactinium 234 Pa of the uranium series, whose secular equilibrium happens in 100 days. The actinium series the secular equilibrium with 235 U happens after 100 hours. Thus, there was the contribution of these radioisotopes in secular equilibrium in the transport index of compounds UO 2 and U 3 Si 2 or uranium element, for each enrichment up to 10% and the U 3 O 8 up to 20% of enrichment. (author)

  9. Application of lanthanide ions doped in different glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dhondiyal, Charu Chandra

    2015-01-01

    The transfer of optical excitation energy from one ion/molecule to another ion/molecule has proved to be of potential importance in industrial application as well as research. Rare earth elements (RE) although not as rare as some of them occur more prevalently then other well known material (e.g. silver, tin, tungsten) are special group of elements of the periodic table comprising lanthanide series (from lanthanum to lutetium) and actinide series (from actinium to lawrencium). Most of the actinides are highly radioactive hence their uses are limited. Fluorescence is the particular optical property of lanthanide (RE) ions. The narrow absorption and emission lines exhibited by the RE ions in crystals, glasses and solutions have always made these ions attractive as sensitive probes of solids and liquid state and also makes them useful in laser technology, CRT displays, UV to visible converters and optical communications etc. In recent years there has been a special interest to study the properties and applications of rare earth doped in glasses. Lanthanide ions in glasses play an important role, especially by retaining their emission capabilities, in the host matrix. Glass as a dielectric material plays an important role in science and industry. Its chemical, physical and particular optical properties make it suitable for applications such as opto-electronic materials, laboratory equipment, laser gain media, etc. Photoluminescence from rare earth doped glasses are of major interest in the research area of optoelectronic device applications like phosphors, display monitors, lasers and amplifiers for communication systems. Now a days, development of optical devices based on rare-earth ions doped materials is one of the interesting fields of research. Rare earth doped glasses are widely used as laser materials, optical amplifiers, optical memory devices, magneto-optical devices, medical lasers, eye safe lasers, flat panel displays, fluorescent lamps, white LED's etc

  10. Therapy with high LET Radioisotopes: Can sufficient levels of attractive Auger and alpha emitters be produced to make their use practical?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knapp, F.F. Jr.; Mirzadeh, S.; Stabin, M.; Brill, A.B.

    2005-01-01

    Because of localized energy deposition within a very small volume, cellular targeted therapy with high linear energy transfer (LET) Auger-electron and alpha-particle emitting radioisotopes is of great interest. While the energy deposition from alpha particles usually encompasses several cell diameters, the dose from Auger electrons is confined to a single cell. Two major challenges for broader use of Alpha and Auger emitters are the efficient and cost effective routine production of sufficient levels of these radioisotopes, and the availability of targeting molecules to which the radioisotopes can be attached for cellular delivery of sufficient levels of activity for effective therapy. Examples of several Alpha-and Auger-emitting radioisotopes of current interest are presented. Alpha- and Auger electron-emitting radioisotopes can be produced in accelerators (A) and nuclear reactors (R), and several alpha emitter congeners (i.e. thorium-229) can be obtained from uranium decay products. The challenge for reactor production, is the availability and exploitation of methods - other then the usual radiative (n,γ) production route which will provide no-carrier-added (nca) or the high specific activity radioisotopes of interest. The submitted manuscript has been authored by a contractor of the U.S. Government under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes High LET radioisotopes of current interest which are in the initial stages of development and/or which demonstrate practical use in clinical trials include several alpha-emitters, in particular bismuth-213 - and also the actinium-225 parent - astatine-211 and bismuth-212. Extensive experimental studies have been reported with Auger iododeoxyuridine (IdUR) radiolabeled with the iodine-125 emitter-labeled. However, development of production

  11. Production of rare earth polishing powders in Russia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kosynkin, V.D.; Ivanov, E.N.; Kotrekhov, V.A.; Shtutza, M.G.; Grabko, A.I.

    1998-01-01

    in a suspension; polishing powder Ftoropol with addition of fluorine and higher contents of cerium dioxide (at least 70% by mass) that has a higher polishing ability and is attrition-proof, used for high-speed treatment of optical lenses, mirrors, TV screens and eyeglasses. The rare earth polishing powders made in Russia possess the following physico-chemical properties and performance characteristics; cerium dioxide content in solid REE solution - 50-90% by mass; F-ion content (in Ftoropol powder) - 8-14% by mass; non-REE content of sodium, calcium, strontium and iron impurities - at most 0.1% by mass of each element; natural radionuclide content of thorium, uranium, actinium, potassium-40 series, total standard specific activity - 0.45-0.85 Bq/g; - average particle size, 2.0-3.5 μm; density - 6.3-6.8 g/cm 3 ; pH of aqueous extract, 6-7; sedimentary stability - 10-20 minutes; polishing ability - 45-60 mg per 31 minutes (for polishing resin); abrasive inclusions - none. The report gives analysis of the. Russian powders compared against the best world analogues such as Cerox (Rhone Poulenc Company, France), Regipol (London and Scandinavian Division Chemical Company, England), etc. The analysis results imply, that the chief characteristics (granulometric composition, polishing ability and service life) of the Russian samples do not yield to the best foreign analogues, and in some properties (radionuclide content, sedimentary stability and scratching inclusions quantity) even surpass them

  12. Applications of High Intensity Proton Accelerators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raja, Rajendran; Mishra, Shekhar

    2010-06-01

    collider and neutrino factory - summary of working group 2 / J. Galambos, R. Garoby and S. Geer -- Prospects for a very high power CW SRF linac / R. A. Rimmer -- Indian accelerator program for ADS applications / V. C. Sahni and P. Singh -- Ion accelerator activities at VECC (particularly, operating at low temperature) / R. K. Bhandari -- Chinese efforts in high intensity proton accelerators / S. Fu, J. Wang and S. Fang -- ADSR activity in the UK / R. J. Barlow -- ADS development in Japan / K. Kikuchi -- Project-X, SRF, and very large power stations / C. M. Ankenbrandt, R. P. Johnson and M. Popovic -- Power production and ADS / R. Raja -- Experimental neutron source facility based on accelerator driven system / Y. Gohar -- Transmutation mission / W. S. Yang -- Safety performance and issues / J. E. Cahalan -- Spallation target design for accelerator-driven systems / Y. Gohar -- Design considerations for accelerator transmutation of waste system / W. S. Yang -- Japan ADS program / T. Sasa -- Overview of members states' and IAEA activities in the field of Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) / A. Stanculescu -- Linac for ADS applications - accelerator technologies / R. W. Garnett and R. L. Sheffield -- SRF linacs and accelerator driven sub-critical systems - summary working groups 3 & 4 / J. Delayen -- Production of Actinium-225 via high energy proton induced spallation of Thorium-232 / J. Harvey ... [et al.] -- Search for the electric dipole moment of Radium-225 / R. J. Holt, Z.-T. Lu and R. Mueller -- SRF linac and material science and medicine - summary of working group 5 / J. Nolen, E. Pitcher and H. Kirk.

  13. Biological pathways of exposure and ecotoxicity values for uranium and associated radionuclides: Chapter D in Hydrological, geological, and biological site characterization of breccia pipe uranium deposits in Northern Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinck, Jo E.; Linder, Greg L.; Finger, Susan E.; Little, Edward E.; Tillitt, Donald E.; Kuhne, Wendy

    2010-01-01

    This chapter compiles available chemical and radiation toxicity information for plants and animals from the scientific literature on naturally occurring uranium and associated radionuclides. Specifically, chemical and radiation hazards associated with radionuclides in the uranium decay series including uranium, thallium, thorium, bismuth, radium, radon, protactinium, polonium, actinium, and francium were the focus of the literature compilation. In addition, exposure pathways and a food web specific to the segregation areas were developed. Major biological exposure pathways considered were ingestion, inhalation, absorption, and bioaccumulation, and biota categories included microbes, invertebrates, plants, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. These data were developed for incorporation into a risk assessment to be conducted as part of an environmental impact statement for the Bureau of Land Management, which would identify representative plants and animals and their relative sensitivities to exposure of uranium and associated radionuclides. This chapter provides pertinent information to aid in the development of such an ecological risk assessment but does not estimate or derive guidance thresholds for radionuclides associated with uranium. Previous studies have not attempted to quantify the risks to biota caused directly by the chemical or radiation releases at uranium mining sites, although some information is available for uranium mill tailings and uranium mine closure activities. Research into the biological impacts of uranium exposure is strongly biased towards human health and exposure related to enriched or depleted uranium associated with the nuclear energy industry rather than naturally occurring uranium associated with uranium mining. Nevertheless, studies have reported that uranium and other radionuclides can affect the survival, growth, and reproduction of plants and animals. Exposure to chemical and radiation hazards is influenced by a

  14. Preface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siwek-Wilczynska, K.

    2006-01-01

    of the lifetimes in 128 Cs, the dE/dx values for the Cs recoils moving in the target material (Sn) were measured. A substantial difference between the electronic stopping power obtained in our experiment and that in Ziegler's predictions was found. Some new data on the half-life of the isomeric states in neutron reach nuclei( 97 Sr, 97 Y and 131 Sb) are presented. Neutron reach nuclei were produced by thermal-neutron induced fission of the actinium elements at the high-flux reactor at the ILL (Grenoble). Among contributions concerning experimental methods and instrumentation, I would like to mention the report on a new radiobiological facility operating at the Heavy Ion Laboratory in Warsaw. The facility allows to vary the energy from 2 MeV/nucleon to 10 MeV/nucleon. As already mentioned, most of the work presented in this Annual Report results from close collaboration with our colleagues from many foreign as well as Polish institutes and universities. In this place, I would like to express our deep gratitude to all our friends and collaborators around the world. I would also like to acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science (MEiN). (author)

  15. The production of radioisotopes with a betatron using an internal bombarding technique; Production de radioisotopes par bombardement interne dans un betatron; Proizvodstvo radioizotopov s pomoshch'yu betatrona s ispol'zovaniem metoda vnutrennej bombardirovki; Obtencion de radioisotopos por bombardeo interno en el betatron

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morinaga, H [Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai (Japan)

    1962-01-15

    des cibles internes n'a ete employee que pour les travaux de spectroscopie nucleaire; elle a permis d'identifier huit nouvelles especes d'isotopes radioactifs (cobalt-63, gallium-75, arsenic-81, indium-121, indium-123, thulium-173, thulium-175 et actinium-231) et de decouvrir plusieurs nouveaux isomeres. L'efficacite de cette technique de bombardement ouvre de nouvelles perspectives, car les betatrons employes a des fins medicales ou industrielles ou pour la recherche peuvent aussi servir a la production de radioelements. Les radioisotopes de courte periode sont souvent plus commodes a utiliser dans diverses applications en raison de leur desintegration rapide et des rayonnements de haute energie qu'ils emettent, et peuvent etre fabriques facilement sans exiger d'operations compliquees. (author) [Spanish] El autor ha ideado y empleado con exito un nuevo metodo para obtener en el betatron radioisotopos de elevada actividad especifica. Los materiales que se desee activar se colocan en el extremo de una varilla que se introduce desde el exterior en el tubo toroidal, y se irradian a la presion de una atmosfera en un lugar situado inmediatamente detras clel blanco que emite las radiaciones de frenado, en el que la intensidad de las radiaciones es extremadamente elevada. El autor produjo en una pieza pequena de cobre una actividad de saturacion de {sup 62}Cu superior a un milicurie, y la actividad especifica mas elevada que pudo alcanzar era unas 500 veces mayor que la obtenida con ayuda de los dispositivos corrientes. Por ahora, la tecnica del blanco interior solo se emplea para trabajos de espectroscopia nuclear. El autor ha Identificado por este metodo ocho nuevas especies radioisotopicas ({sup 63}Co, {sup 75}Ga, {sup 81}As, {sup 121}In, {sup 123}In, {sup 173}Tm, {sup 175}Tm y {sup 231}Ac) y ha encontrado varios nuevos isomeros. Esta tecnica de bombardeo abre posibilidades nuevas porque los betatrones que hoy se emplean en medicina, en la industria o en la investigacion