Improvements on heavy water separation technology by isotopic water-hydrogen sulfide exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peculea, M.

1987-01-01

A series of possible variance is presented for the heavy water separation technology by isotopic H 2 O-H 2 S exchange at dual temperatures. The critical study of these variants, which are considered as characteristic quantities for the isotopes transport (production) and the extraction level is related to a dual temperature plant fed by liquid and cold column, which is the up-to-date technology employed in all heavy water production plants as variants of following plants are studied: dual temperature plant with double feeding; dual-temperature plant with equilibrium column (booster); dual-temperature-dual-pressure plant. Attention is paid to the variant with equilibration column (booster), executed and tested at the State Committee for Nuclear Energy and to the dual-temperature-dual pressure plant which presents the highest efficiency. (author)

Performance of refractometry in quantitative estimation of isotopic concentration of heavy water in nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhole, K.; Roy, M.; Ghosh, S.; Datta, A.; Tripathy, M.K.; Bose, H.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Rapid analysis of heavy water samples, with precise temperature control. ► Entire composition range covered. ► Both variations in mole and wt.% of D 2 O in the heavy water sample studied. ► Standard error of calibration and prediction were estimated. - Abstract: The method of refractometry has been investigated for the quantitative estimation of isotopic concentration of heavy water (D 2 O) in a simulated water sample. Feasibility of refractometry as an excellent analytical technique for rapid and non-invasive determination of D 2 O concentration in water samples has been amply demonstrated. Temperature of the samples has been precisely controlled to eliminate the effect of temperature fluctuation on refractive index measurement. The method is found to exhibit a reasonable analytical response to its calibration performance over the purity range of 0–100% D 2 O. An accuracy of below ±1% in the measurement of isotopic purity of heavy water for the entire range could be achieved

Selected bibliography on heavy water, tritiated water and hydrogen isotopes (1981-1992)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gopalakrishnan, V.T.; Sutawane, U.B.; Rathi, B.N.

1994-01-01

A selected bibliography on heavy water, tritiated water and hydrogen isotopes is presented. This bibliography covers the period 1981-1992 and is in continuation to Division's earlier report BARC-1192 (1983). The sources of information for this compilation are Chemical Abstracts, INIS Atom Index and also some scattered search through journals and reports available in our library. No claim is made towards exhaustiveness of this bibliography even though sincere attempts have been made for a wide coverage. The bibliography is arranged under the headings: (1) production, purification, recovery, reprocessing and storage, (2) isotope exchange, 3) isotope analysis, (4) properties and (5) miscellaneous. Total number of references in the bibliography are 1762. (author)

Early History of Heavy Isotope Research at Berkeley

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Glenn T. Seaborg

1976-06-01

I have had the idea for some time that it would be interesting and worthwhile to put together an account of the early work on heavy isotopes at Berkeley. Of a special interest is the discovery of plutonium (atomic number 94) and the isotope U{sup 233}, and the demonstration of their fission with slow neutrons. This work served as a prelude to the subsequent Plutonium Project (Metallurgical Project) centered at the University of Chicago, in connection with which I have also had the idea of putting together a history of the work of my chemistry group. I have decided that it would be an interesting challenge to write this account on a day-to-day basis in a style that would be consistent with the entries having been written at the end of each day. The aim would be to make this history as accurate as possible by going back to the original records and using them with meticulous care.

High resolution conductometry for isotopic assay of deuterium in mixtures of heavy water and light water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ananthanarayanan, R.; Sahoo, P.; Murali, N.

2014-01-01

A PC based high resolution conductivity monitoring technique has been deployed for determination of isotopic purity of heavy water in samples containing heavy water and light water mixtures using pulsating sensor based conductivity monitoring instrument. The technique involves accurate determination of conductivities of a series of specially treated heavy water and light water mixtures of various compositions at a constant solution temperature. The shift in conductivity (Δκ), which is the difference between conductivities of composite mixture after and before the formation of a typical complex compound (boric acid–mannitol complex in this case), shows a smooth and reproducible decreasing trend with increase in percentage composition of heavy water. This relation, which is obtained by appropriate calibration, is used in the software program for direct display of isotopic purity of heavy water. The technique is examined for determination of percentage composition of heavy water in the entire range of concentration (0-100 %) with reasonable precision (relative standard deviation, RSD ≤1.5 %). About 1 mL of sample is required for each analysis and analysis is completed within a couple of minutes after pretreatment of sample. The accuracy in measurement is ≤1.75 %. (author)

Recent search for quarks and very heavy hydrogen isotopes using an (almost) all-electrostatic system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schiffer, J.P.; Ernst, H.; Henning, W.; Kutschera, W.

1981-01-01

In order to search for +1/3e particles in metals we adapted the Argonne Dynamitron to accelerate particles from a metal filament. The particles, after being accelerated, were bent by an electrostatic deflector, passed through a foil which dissociated any molecules, and bent by a second electrostatic deflector to eliminate molecular fragments, through a slit system into a Si surface-barrier detector. Only charged particles that originated at the terminal of the accelerator and did not change their mass or charge state throughout, could reach the detector. The energy deposited in the detector was then a direct measure of the particle's charge: a +1/3e particle would have one third the energy of a single charged one. But all particles were accepted, independent of their mass. These experiments were performed with negative results. Recently we adapted this technique to a search for anomalously heavy isotopes of hydrogen. A limit on such particles would be useful on quite general grounds. In order to do the measurement, however, the technique had to be modified in several ways. 1) To eliminate the known isotopes of hydrogen a small magnetic field was introduced, sufficient to deflect the light isotopes onto a beam stop, but leaving very heavy isotopes essentially undeflected. 2) The solid state detector was replaced by a ΔE-E telescope, that provided charge identification, and 3) The two elements in the telescope were separated sufficiently to allow the time-of-flight measurements to be carried out, in order to search for heavy particles. 4) In addition, a nickel foil was placed in front of the detector of sufficient thickness to stop any normal ions (with Z greater than or equal to 2) but thin enough to readily transmit hydrogen-like particles of any mass. From preliminary tests we anticipate no problems in observing a heavy hydrogen isotope which is 10 -15 of the primary hydrogenic beam, and with minor improvements we might be able to reach 10 -17

Heavy metal pollution and Pb isotopic tracing in the intertidal surface sediments of Quanzhou Bay, southeast coast of China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Ruilian; Zhang, Weifang; Hu, Gongren; Lin, Chengqi; Yang, Qiuli

2016-01-01

Concentrations of 16 heavy metals and Pb isotopic ratios in the intertidal surface sediments of Quanzhou Bay were determined to study the pollution level of heavy metals and the sources of Pb. The results showed that most concentrations of Cd, Sn, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb, Hg, Ni, Co, Cs, Fe and V were higher than the background values, while most concentrations of Ti, Sb and Sr were lower than the background values. The mean concentrations of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr and Cd exceeded the first-grade criteria of Chinese marine sediment quality. The geo-accumulation indexes revealed that the sediments had been polluted by some heavy metals. The results of Pb isotopic tracing indicated that the total Pb in the sediments were mainly from parent material, industrial emission and vehicle exhaust with the mean contributions of 38.2%, 51.3% and 10.5%, respectively, calculated by a three-end-member model of Pb isotopic ratios. - Highlights: •Level of 16 heavy metals in intertidal surface sediments of Quanzhou Bay was studied. •The sediments had been polluted by some heavy metals including Pb. •Pb isotopic compositions in the sediments and the potential sources were determined. •A three-end member model was applied to estimate the contributions of Pb sources. •Industrial emission was the major anthropogenic Pb contributor in the sediments.

ZIRCONIUM—HAFNIUM ISOTOPE EVIDENCE FROM METEORITES FOR THE DECOUPLED SYNTHESIS OF LIGHT AND HEAVY NEUTRON-RICH NUCLEI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akram, W.; Schönbächler, M. [School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Sprung, P. [Institut für Planetologie, Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Strasse 10, D-48149 Münster (Germany); Vogel, N. [Institute for Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH, Clausiusstrasse 25, 8092 Zürich (Switzerland)

2013-11-10

Recent work based on analyses of meteorite and terrestrial whole-rock samples showed that the r- and s- process isotopes of Hf were homogeneously distributed throughout the inner solar system. We report new Hf isotope data for Calcium-Aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) of the CV3 carbonaceous chondrite Allende, and novel high-precision Zr isotope data for these CAIs and three carbonaceous chondrites (CM, CO, CK). Our Zr data reveal enrichments in the neutron-rich isotope {sup 96}Zr (≤1ε in {sup 96}Zr/{sup 90}Zr) for bulk chondrites and CAIs (∼2ε). Potential isotope effects due to incomplete sample dissolution, galactic and cosmic ray spallation, and the nuclear field shift are assessed and excluded, leading to the conclusion that the {sup 96}Zr isotope variations are of nucleosynthetic origin. The {sup 96}Zr enrichments are coupled with {sup 50}Ti excesses suggesting that both nuclides were produced in the same astrophysical environment. The same CAIs also exhibit deficits in r-process Hf isotopes, which provides strong evidence for a decoupling between the nucleosynthetic processes that produce the light (A ≤ 130) and heavy (A > 130) neutron-rich isotopes. We propose that the light neutron-capture isotopes largely formed in Type II supernovae (SNeII) with higher mass progenitors than the supernovae that produced the heavy r-process isotopes. In the context of our model, the light isotopes (e.g. {sup 96}Zr) are predominantly synthesized via charged-particle reactions in a high entropy wind environment, in which Hf isotopes are not produced. Collectively, our data indicates that CAIs sampled an excess of materials produced in a normal mass (12-25 M{sub ☉}) SNII.

Anaerobic methane oxidation and a deep H2S sink generate isotopically heavy sulfides in Black Sea sediments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, BB; Bottcher, ME; Luschen, H.

2004-01-01

to isotopically heavy pyrite in a sediment open to diffusion. These results have general implications for the marine sulfur cycle and for the interpretation of sulfur isotopic data in modern sediments and in sedimentary rocks throughout earth's history. Copyright (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd...

Electrolytic separation factors for oxygen isotopes in light and heavy water solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gulens, J.; Olmstead, W.J.; Longhurst, T.H.; Gale, K.L.; Rolston, J.H.

1987-01-01

The electrolytic separation factor, α, has been measured for /sup 17/O and /sup 18/O at Pt and Ni anodes in both light and heavy water solutions of 6M KOH as a function of current density. For oxygen-17, isotopic separation effects were not observed, within the experimental uncertainty of +-2%, under all conditions studied. For oxygen-18, there is a small difference of 2% in α values between Pt and Ni in both light and heavy water solutions, but there is no significant difference in α values between light and heavy water solutions. In light waters solutions, the separation factor at Pt is small, α(/sup 18/O) ≤ 1.02 for i ≥ 0.1 A/cm/sub 2/. This value agrees reasonably well with theoretical estimates

Heavy metals pollution and pb isotopic signatures in surface sediments collected from Bohai Bay, North China.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Bo; Lu, Jin; Hao, Hong; Yin, Shuhua; Yu, Xiao; Wang, Qiwen; Sun, Ke

2014-01-01

To investigate the characteristics and potential sources of heavy metals pollution, surface sediments collected from Bohai Bay, North China, were analyzed for the selected metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn). The Geoaccumulation Index was used to assess the level of heavy metal pollution. Pb isotopic compositions in sediments were also measured to effectively identify the potential Pb sources. The results showed that the average concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 0.15, 79.73, 28.70, 36.56, 25.63, and 72.83 mg/kg, respectively. The mean concentrations of the studied metals were slightly higher than the background values. However, the heavy metals concentrations in surface sediments in Bohai Bay were below the other important bays or estuaries in China. The assessment by Geoaccumulation Index indicated that Cr, Zn, and Cd were classified as "the unpolluted" level, while Ni, Cu, and Pb were ranked as "unpolluted to moderately polluted" level. The order of pollution level of heavy metals was: Pb > Ni > Cu > Cr > Zn > Cd. The Pb isotopic ratios in surface sediments varied from 1.159 to 1.185 for (206)Pb/(207)Pb and from 2.456 to 2.482 for (208)Pb/(207)Pb. Compared with Pb isotopic radios in other sources, Pb contaminations in the surface sediments of Bohai Bay may be controlled by the mix process of coal combustion, aerosol particles deposition, and natural sources.

Chemical properties of mendelevium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hulet, E.K.

1980-01-01

The isotope 256 Md is nearly always employed for chemical studies of this element. This nuclide can be made by bombardment of fractions of a microgram of 254 Es with intense alpha-particle beams which will produce about 10 6 atoms of 256 Md with a half-life of 77 minutes. Even with the most intense ion beams and the largest available quantities of target isotope, about 10 6 atoms at a time is all the Md that can be produced for chemical studies. This lack of sufficient sample size coupled with the very short lifetimes of the few atoms produced has severly restricted the gathering and broadening of our knowledge concerning the properties of Md and the heavier elements. To illustrate, the literature contains a mere eleven references to the chemical studies of Md, and none of these deal with bulk properties associated with element found in solid phases. Some of these findings are: Md was found to be more volatile than other actinide metals which lead to the belief that it is divalent in the metallic state; separation of Md from the other actinides can be accomplished either by reduction of Md to the divalent state or by chromatographic separations with Md remaining in the tripositive state; extraction of Md with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid is much poorer than the extraction of the neighboring tripositive actinides; attempts to oxidize Md wih sodium bismuthate failed to show any evidence of Md 4+ ; standard reduction potential of Md 3+ was found to be close to -0.1 volt; Md 3+ can be reduced to Md(Hg) by sodium amalgams and by electrolysis; the electrochemical behavior of Md is very similar to that of Fm and can be summarized in the equation, Md 2+ + 2e - = Md(Hg), and E 0 = 1.5 V

Recent progress of hydrogen isotope behavior studies for neutron or heavy ion damaged W

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oya, Yasuhisa; Hatano, Yuji; Shimada, Masashi; Buchenauer, Dean; Kolasinski, Robert; Merrill, Brad; Kondo, Sosuke; Hinoki, Tatsuya; Alimov, Vladimir Kh.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • This paper reviews recent results pertaining to hydrogen isotope behavior in neutron and heavy ion damaged W. • Accumulation of damage in W creates stable trapping sites for hydrogen isotopes, thereby changing the observed desorption behavior. • The distribution of defects throughout the sample also changes the shape of TDS spectrum. • Experimental results show that production of Re by nuclear reaction of W with neutrons reduces the density of trapping sites, though no remarkable retention enhancement is observed. - Abstract: This paper reviews recent results pertaining to hydrogen isotope behavior in neutron and heavy ion damaged W. Accumulation of damage in W creates stable trapping sites for hydrogen isotopes, thereby changing the observed desorption behavior. In particular, the desorption temperature shifts higher as the defect concentration increases. In addition, the distribution of defects throughout the sample also changes the shape of TDS spectrum. Even if low energy traps were distributed in the bulk region, the D diffusion toward the surface requires additional time for trapping/detrapping during surface-to-bulk transport, contributing to a shift of desorption peaks toward higher temperatures. It can be said that both of distribution of damage (e.g. hydrogen isotope trapping sites) and their stabilities would have a large impact on desorption. In addition, transmutation effects should be also considered for an actual fusion environment. Experimental results show that production of Re by nuclear reaction of W with neutrons reduces the density of trapping sites, though no remarkable retention enhancement is observed.

Recent progress of hydrogen isotope behavior studies for neutron or heavy ion damaged W

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oya, Yasuhisa, E-mail: syoya@ipc.shizuoka.ac.jp [Shizuoka University, 836 Ohya, Suruga-ku Shizuoka 422-8529 (Japan); Hatano, Yuji [University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 939-8555 (Japan); Shimada, Masashi [Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 (United States); Buchenauer, Dean; Kolasinski, Robert [Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94551 (United States); Merrill, Brad [Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 (United States); Kondo, Sosuke; Hinoki, Tatsuya [Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji 611-0011 (Japan); Alimov, Vladimir Kh. [University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 939-8555 (Japan)

2016-12-15

Highlights: • This paper reviews recent results pertaining to hydrogen isotope behavior in neutron and heavy ion damaged W. • Accumulation of damage in W creates stable trapping sites for hydrogen isotopes, thereby changing the observed desorption behavior. • The distribution of defects throughout the sample also changes the shape of TDS spectrum. • Experimental results show that production of Re by nuclear reaction of W with neutrons reduces the density of trapping sites, though no remarkable retention enhancement is observed. - Abstract: This paper reviews recent results pertaining to hydrogen isotope behavior in neutron and heavy ion damaged W. Accumulation of damage in W creates stable trapping sites for hydrogen isotopes, thereby changing the observed desorption behavior. In particular, the desorption temperature shifts higher as the defect concentration increases. In addition, the distribution of defects throughout the sample also changes the shape of TDS spectrum. Even if low energy traps were distributed in the bulk region, the D diffusion toward the surface requires additional time for trapping/detrapping during surface-to-bulk transport, contributing to a shift of desorption peaks toward higher temperatures. It can be said that both of distribution of damage (e.g. hydrogen isotope trapping sites) and their stabilities would have a large impact on desorption. In addition, transmutation effects should be also considered for an actual fusion environment. Experimental results show that production of Re by nuclear reaction of W with neutrons reduces the density of trapping sites, though no remarkable retention enhancement is observed.

Production and identification of heavy Ni isotopes: Evidence for the doubly magic nucleus 7828Ni. Short note

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engelmann, C.; Ameil, F.; Bernas, M.; Heinz, A.; Janas, Z.; Kozhuharov, C.; Miehe, C.; Pfuetzner, M.; Roehl, C.; Stephan, C.; Tassan-Got, L.; Voss, B.

1995-07-01

We report the first observation of the doubly magic nucleus 78 Ni 50 and the heavy isotopes 77 Ni, 73,74,75 Co, 80 Cu. The isotopes were produced by nuclear fission in collisions of 750 A.MeV projectiles of 238 U on Be target nuclei. The fully-stripped fission products were separated in-flight by the fragment separator FRS and identified event-by-event by measuring the magnetic rigidity, the trajectory, the energy deposit, and the time of flight. Production cross-sections and fission yields for the new Ni-isotopes are given. (orig.)

Using stable lead isotopes to trace heavy metal contamination sources in sediments of Xiangjiang and Lishui Rivers in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Guo-Xin; Wang, Xin-Jun; Hu, Qin-Hong

2011-12-01

Lead isotopes and heavy metal concentrations were measured in two sediment cores sampled in estuaries of Xiangjiang and Lishui Rivers in Hunan province, China. The presence of anthropogenic contribution was observed in both sediments, especially in Xiangjiang sediment. In the Xiangjiang sediment, the lower (206)Pb/(207)Pb and higher (208)Pb/(206)Pb ratio, than natural Pb isotope signature (1.198 and 2.075 for (206)Pb/(207)Pb and (208)Pb/(206)Pb, respectively), indicated a significant input of non-indigenous Pb with low (206)Pb/(207)Pb and high (208)Pb/(206)Pb. The corresponding concentrations of heavy metals (As, Cd, Zn, Mn and Pb) were much higher than natural values, suggesting the contaminations of heavy metals from extensive ore-mining activities in the region. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heavy metal input to agricultural soils from irrigation with treated wastewater: Insight from Pb isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Kloppmann, Wolfram; Cary, Lise; Psarras, Georgios; Surdyk, Nicolas; Chartzoulakis, Kostas; Pettenati, Marie; Maton, Laure

2010-05-01

A major objective of the EU FP6 project SAFIR was to overcome certain drawbacks of wastewater reuse through the development of a new irrigation technology combining small-scale modular water treatment plants on farm level and improved irrigation hardware, in the aim to lower the risks related to low quality water and to increase water use efficiency. This innovative technology was tested in several hydro-climatic contexts (Crete, Italy, Serbia, China) on experimental irrigated tomato and potato fields. Here we present the heavy metal variations in soil after medium-term (3 irrigation seasons from 2006-2008) use of treated municipal wastewater with a special focus on lead and lead isotope signatures. The experimental site is located in Chania, Crete. A matrix of plots were irrigated, combining different water qualities (secondary, primary treated wastewater, tap water, partially spiked with heavy metals, going through newly developed tertiary treatment systems) with different irrigation strategies (surface and subsurface drip irrigation combined with full irrigation and partial root drying). In order to assess small scale heavy metal distribution around a drip emitter, Pb isotope tracing was used, combined with selective extraction. The sampling for Pb isotope fingerprinting was performed after the 3rd season of ww-irrigation on a lateral profile from a drip irrigator (half distance between drip lines, i.e. 50cm) and three depth intervals (0-10, 10-20, 20-40 cm). These samples were lixiviated through a 3 step selective extraction procedure giving rise to the bio-accessible, mobile and residual fraction: CaCl2/NaNO3 (bio-accessible fraction), DPTA (mobile fraction), total acid attack (residual fraction). Those samples were analysed for trace elements (including heavy metals) and major inorganic compounds by ICP-MS. The extracted fractions were then analysed by Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) for their lead isotope fingerprints (204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, 208Pb

2nd-order optical model of the isotopic dependence of heavy ion absorption cross sections for radiation transport studies

Science.gov (United States)

Cucinotta, Francis A.; Yan, Congchong; Saganti, Premkumar B.

2018-01-01

Heavy ion absorption cross sections play an important role in radiation transport codes used in risk assessment and for shielding studies of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) exposures. Due to the GCR primary nuclei composition and nuclear fragmentation leading to secondary nuclei heavy ions of charge number, Z with 3 ≤ Z ≥ 28 and mass numbers, A with 6 ≤ A ≥ 60 representing about 190 isotopes occur in GCR transport calculations. In this report we describe methods for developing a data-base of isotopic dependent heavy ion absorption cross sections for interactions. Calculations of a 2nd-order optical model solution to coupled-channel solutions to the Eikonal form of the nucleus-nucleus scattering amplitude are compared to 1st-order optical model solutions. The 2nd-order model takes into account two-body correlations in the projectile and target ground-states, which are ignored in the 1st-order optical model. Parameter free predictions are described using one-body and two-body ground state form factors for the isotopes considered and the free nucleon-nucleon scattering amplitude. Root mean square (RMS) matter radii for protons and neutrons are taken from electron and muon scattering data and nuclear structure models. We report on extensive comparisons to experimental data for energy-dependent absorption cross sections for over 100 isotopes of elements from Li to Fe interacting with carbon and aluminum targets. Agreement between model and experiments are generally within 10% for the 1st-order optical model and improved to less than 5% in the 2nd-order optical model in the majority of comparisons. Overall the 2nd-order optical model leads to a reduction in absorption compared to the 1st-order optical model for heavy ion interactions, which influences estimates of nuclear matter radii.

Tritium isotope separation from light and heavy water by bipolar electrolysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petek, M.; Ramey, D.W.; Taylor, R.D.; Kobisk, E.H.

1980-01-01

A process for separating tritium from light and heavy water is described. Hydrogen is transferred at and through bipolar electrodes at rates H > D > T. In a cell containing several bipolar electrodes placed in series between two terminal electrodes, a flow of hydrogen is established from the terminal anode compartment toward the terminal cathode. An electrolyte feed containing tritium is continuously added to the system and is subsequently transported countercurrent to the hydrogen mass transfer. A cascaded system is established, in which effluent streams enriched and depleted in tritium can be withdrawn. The voltage drop is smaller at any bipolar electrode as compared to the voltage for normal electrolysis. Cell design is compact because isotope separation occurs at bipolar electrodes without evolution of gas. Isotope separation was demonstrated in laboratory cells where a steady-state tritium concentration gradient was attained. This gradient was in agreement with concentrations calculated from a derived mathematical model

Production of heavy element and search for new isotopes at JAERI-RMS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ikuta, Tomohiko [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1997-07-01

The new neutron deficient isotope {sup 209}Th and {sup 212}Pa have been produced in heavy ion induced fusion evaporation reactions. The evaporation residues were separated in-flight by the JAERI recoil mass separator (JAERI-RMS). The {alpha}-decay energy of {sup 209}Th and {sup 212}Pa are 8.080(50) MeV and 8.270(30) MeV, respectively. The corresponding half-lives are 3.8{sub -1.5}{sup +6.9} ms and 5.1{sub -1.9}{sup +6.1} ms. (author)

Measurements of Plutonium isotopes and the search for super-heavy elements via AMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallner, A.; Steier, P.; Golser, R.; Knie, K.; Kutschera, W.; Priller, A.; Hrnecek, E.; Jakopic, R.; Korschinek, G.

2006-01-01

Full text: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) - being independent on the half-life of a radionuclide - provides a technique to determine isotope ratios with the highest sensitivity and allows the measurement of radionuclides over a wide dynamic range of concentration levels. A combination of AMS, Alpha Spectrometry and Liquid Scintillation Counting was used for the determination of the complete information on isotope ratios of Plutonium isotopes in different environmental reference samples (e.g. from the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa) and samples contaminated from nuclear reprocessing. Results for the isotopic ratios of the samples will be shown and the capabilities and detection limits achievable for determination of Pu will be discussed. The long-lived 244 Pu (t 1/2 = 80 Ma) and 247 Cm (t 1/2 = 15.6 Ma) have a very interesting application in astrophysics by detecting possible supernova-produced 244 Pu and 247 Cm in terrestrial archives. The expected extremely small concentrations of 244 Pu makes AMS the favorite method. The actual search for such long-lived extraterrestrial radionuclides and possible implications will be presented. The same method has also been explored for a pinprick-search of long-lived super-heavy elements in the mass region above Z=100. (author)

Selection of the process for the heavy water production using isotopic exchange amonia-hydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guzman R, G.H.

1980-01-01

The utilization of the Petroleos Mexicanos ammonia plants for heavy water production by the isotopic exchange NH 3 -H 2 process is presented, in addition a description of the other heavy water production processes was presented. In the ammonia hydrogen process exist two possible alternatives for the operation of the system, one of them is to carry out the enrichment to the same temperature, the second consists in making the enrichment at two different temperatures (dual temperature process), an analysis was made to select the best alternative. The conclusion was that the best operation is the dual temperature process, which presents higher advantages according to the thermodynamics and engineering of the process. (author)

Actinide production in the reaction of heavy ions with curium-248

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moody, K.J.

1983-07-01

Chemical experiments were performed to examine the usefulness of heavy ion transfer reactions in producing new, neutron-rich actinide nuclides. A general quasi-elastic to deep-inelastic mechanism is proposed, and the utility of this method as opposed to other methods (e.g. complete fusion) is discussed. The relative merits of various techniques of actinide target synthesis are discussed. A description is given of a target system designed to remove the large amounts of heat generated by the passage of a heavy ion beam through matter, thereby maximizing the beam intensity which can be safely used in an experiment. Also described is a general separation scheme for the actinide elements from protactinium (Z=91) to mendelevium (Z=101), and fast specific procedures for plutonium, americium and berkelium. The cross sections for the production of several nuclides from the bombardment of 248 Cm with 18 O, 86 Kr and 136 Xe projectiles at several energies near and below the Coulomb barrier were determined. The results are compared with yields from 48 Ca and 238 U bombardments of 248 Cm. Simple extrapolation of the product yields into unknown regions of charge and mass indicates that the use of heavy ion transfer reactions to produce new, neutron-rich above-target species is limited. The substantial production of neutron-rich below-target species, however, indicates that with very heavy ions like 136 Xe and 238 U the new species 248 Am, 249 Am and 247 Pu should be produced with large cross sections from a 248 Cm target. A preliminary, unsuccessful attempt to isolate 247 Pu is outlined. The failure is probably due to the half life of the decay, which is calculated to be less than 3 minutes. The absolute gamma ray intensities from 251 Bk decay, necessary for calculating the 251 Bk cross section, are also determined

Regional and inter annual patterns of heavy metals, organochlorines and stable isotopes in narwhals (Monodon monoceros) from West Greenland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dietz, R.; Riget, F.; Hobson, K.A.

2004-01-01

Samples of 150 narwhals obtained in different years from two West Greenland areas, Avanersuaq and Uummannaq, were compared for concentrations of and regional differences in heavy metals and organochlorines and stable-carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Cadmium, Hg, and Se concentrations increased....../age composition of the data. PCB and DDT concentrations in West Greenland narwhals were half those found in East Greenland and Svalbard. Stable-carbon isotope ratios in muscle of 150 narwhals showed a decreasing trend in the first year when they gradually reduced their dependency on mother's milk, after which...... between stable isotope ratios and metal and OC concentrations....

Technical status study of heavy water enrichment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sukarsono; Imam Dahroni; Didik Herhady

2007-01-01

Technical status study of heavy water enrichment in Indonesia and also in the world has been done. Heavy water enrichment processes have been investigated were water distillation, hydrogen distillation, laser enrichment, electrolysis and isotop exchange. For the isotop exchange, the chemical pair can be used were water-hydrogen sulphite, ammonium-hydrogen, aminomethane-hydrogen, and water-hydrogen. For the isotope exchange, there was carried out by mono thermal or bi thermal. The highest producer of heavy water is Canada, and the other producer is USA, Norwegian and India. The processes be used in the world are isotope exchange Girdler Sulphide (GS), distillation and electrolysis. Research of heavy water carried out in Batan Yogyakarta, has a purpose to know the characteristic of heavy water purification. Several apparatus which has erected were 3 distillation column: Pyrex glass of 2 m tall, stainless steel column of 3 m tall and steel of 6 m tall. Electrolysis apparatus is 50 cell electrolysis and an isotope exchange unit which has catalyst: Ni- Cr 2 O 3 and Pt-Carbon. These apparatus were not ready to operate. (author)

UWIS isotope separator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wojtasiewicz, A. [Warsaw Univ., Inst. of Experimental Physics, Nuclear Physics Div., Warsaw (Poland)

1997-12-31

Since 1995 the University of Warsaw Isotope Separator group has participated in the ISOL/IGISOL project at the Heavy Ion Cyclotron. This project consists in installation of an isotope separator (on line with cyclotron heavy ion beam) with a hot plasma ion source (ISOL system) and/or with an ion guide source (IGISOL system). In the report the short description of the present status of the project is presented. 2 figs, 10 refs.

Nuclear structure of light Ca and heavy Cr isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buerger, A.

2007-01-01

In the present thesis, the shell structure in exotic nuclei has been investigated. The focus of the work was on finding new experimental data in neutron-rich Cr and proton-rich Ca isotopes. The investigation of light Ca isotopes concentrated on the nucleus 36 Ca which was produced in a knockout reaction from a radioactive 37 Ca beam. For 36 Ca, the excitation energy of the first 2 + state has been measured for the first time. Furthermore, momentum distributions were analyzed using a Monte-Carlo simulation of the knockout reaction. This analysis yielded the contributions of neutrons from individual orbitals to the total knockout cross section. In principle, these may be used to calculate spectroscopic factors, but such a calculation is hampered by difficulties of present knockout-reaction models in predicting precise single-particle cross sections. The measured branching ratio to the ground and excited states, on the other hand, is close to the predicted value. A remaining difference might be due to emission of protons which cannot be detected with the present experimental setup. Both the branching ratio and the large excitation energy are compatible with a large N=16 gap in 36 Ca that leads to relatively pure configurations both in the ground state and the excited 2 + state. As a by-product of the experiment, two excitation energies in the T=2 nuclei 32 Ar and 28 S have been confirmed, and two γ-ray transitions have been observed for the first time in 37 Ca. While the mirror energy differences in the T=2 pairs 36 Ca- 36 S, 32 Ar- 32 Si, and 28 S- 28 Mg can be reproduced in shell model calculations using a modified USD interaction, these modifications are not sufficient to explain the mirror energy differences for the pair 37 Ca- 37 Cl. In the heavy Cr isotopes, new experimental evidence for a sub-shell closure at N=32 was found in a measurement of B(E2) values using high-energy Coulomb excitation of radioactive beams. Prior to this experiment, the assumption of a

Isotope effect in heavy/light water suspensions of optically active gold nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Kutsenko, V. Y.; Artykulnyi, O. P.; Petrenko, V. I.; Avdeev, M. V.; Marchenko, O. A.; Bulavin, L. A.; Snegir, S. V.

2018-04-01

Aqueous suspensions of optically active gold nanoparticles coated with trisodium citrate were synthesized in light (H2O) water and mixture of light and heavy (H2O/D2O) water using the modified Turkevich protocol. The objective of the paper was to verify sensitivity of neutron scattering methods (in particular, neutron reflectometry) to the potential isotope H/D substitution in the stabilizing organic shell around particles in colloidal solutions. First, the isotope effect was studied with respect to the changes in the structural properties of metal particles (size, shape, crystalline morphology) in solutions by electron microscopy including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy from dried systems. The structural factors determining the variation in the adsorption spectra in addition to the change in the optical properties of surrounding medium were discussed. Then, neutron reflectometry was applied to the layered nanoparticles anchored on a silicon wafer via 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane molecules to reveal the presence of deuterated water molecules in the shell presumably formed by citrate molecules around the metallic core.

Combining emission inventory and isotope ratio analyses for quantitative source apportionment of heavy metals in agricultural soil.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lian; Zhou, Shenglu; Wu, Shaohua; Wang, Chunhui; Li, Baojie; Li, Yan; Wang, Junxiao

2018-08-01

Two quantitative methods (emission inventory and isotope ratio analysis) were combined to apportion source contributions of heavy metals entering agricultural soils in the Lihe River watershed (Taihu region, east China). Source apportionment based on the emission inventory method indicated that for Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn, the mean percentage input from atmospheric deposition was highest (62-85%), followed by irrigation (12-27%) and fertilization (1-14%). Thus, the heavy metals were derived mainly from industrial activities and traffic emissions. For Ni the combined percentage input from irrigation and fertilization was approximately 20% higher than that from atmospheric deposition, indicating that Ni was mainly derived from agricultural activities. Based on isotope ratio analysis, atmospheric deposition accounted for 57-93% of Pb entering soil, with the mean value of 69.3%, which indicates that this was the major source of Pb entering soil in the study area. The mean contributions of irrigation and fertilization to Pb pollution of soil ranged from 0% to 10%, indicating that they played only a marginally important role. Overall, the results obtained using the two methods were similar. This study provides a reliable approach for source apportionment of heavy metals entering agricultural soils in the study area, and clearly have potential application for future studies in other regions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical properties of mendelevium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hulet, E.K.

1980-11-01

Even with the most intense ion beams and the largest available quantities of target isotope, about 10 6 atoms at a time is all the Md that can be produced for chemical studies. This lack of sufficient sample size coupled with the very short lifetimes of the few atoms produced has severely restricted the gathering and the broadness of our knowledge concerning the properties of Md and the heavier elements. To illustrate, the literature contains a mere eleven references to the chemical studies of Md, and none of these deal with bulk properties associated with the element bound in solid phases. Some of these findings are: Md was found to be more volatile than other actinide metals which lead to the belief that it is divalent in the metallic state; separation of Md from the other actinides can be accomplished either by reduction of Md 3+ to the divalent state or by chromatographic separations with Md remaining in the tripositive state; extraction of Md 2+ with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid is much poorer than the extraction of the neighboring tripositive actinides; attempts to oxidize Md 3+ with sodium bismuthate failed to show any evidence for Md 4+ ; reduction potential of Md 3+ was found to be close to -0.1 volt; Md 3+ can be reduced to Md(Hg) by sodium amalgams and by electrolysis; the electrochemical behavior of Md is very similar to that of Fm and can be summarized in the equation, Md 2+ + 2e - = Md(Hg) and E 0 = -1.50 V.; and Md cannot be reduced to a monovalent ion with Sm 2+

Fission properties of very heavy actinides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, D.C.

1979-01-01

The existing data on neutron-emission, kinetic-energy and mass distributions, and half-lives for spontaneous fission of the heavy actinides are reviewed. A comparison of the data for the Fm isotopes with heavier and lighter nuclides suggests that the properties of the heavy Fm isotopes may be unique and can qualitatively be explained on the basis of fragment shell effects, i.e., symmetric fission results in two fragments with configurations close to the doubly magic 132 Sn nucleus. The effect of excitation energy and the use of systematics and theoretical predictions of fission properties and half-lives in the identification of new heavy element isotopes is discussed. 54 references

Isotope effects: definitions and consequences for pharmacologic studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Langenhove, A.

1986-01-01

The use of stable isotope-labeled compounds for pharmacologic studies requires careful consideration of the nature of the stable isotope label (2H, 13C, 15N, 18O) and its position of incorporation in the molecule. When deuterium is used, improper positioning can lead to significant primary isotope effects. Primary isotope effects occur when the breaking of the bond to the heavy isotope is the rate-limiting step in a reaction (or metabolic transformation). A reaction will proceed slower for the molecule with the heavy isotope label because of the mass difference between the light and the heavy isotope. In addition to these primary isotope effects, smaller but nevertheless important secondary isotope effects, physicochemical isotope effects, active hydrogen/deuterium exchange, or isotope effects associated with either the enzyme-catalyzed biotransformation or the mass spectrometric ionization and fragmentation can be operative. In mechanistic studies, isotope effects are used to their advantage; however, in pharmacokinetic studies, the occurrence of isotope effects can lead to grossly misleading biologic and analytic results: the metabolism of the drug will differ when in vivo isotope effects are operative, and isotope effects occurring during the analysis procedure will obscure the true metabolic profile of the drug

Nuclear structure of light Ca and heavy Cr isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buerger, A.

2007-07-01

In the present thesis, the shell structure in exotic nuclei has been investigated. The focus of the work was on finding new experimental data in neutron-rich Cr and proton-rich Ca isotopes. The investigation of light Ca isotopes concentrated on the nucleus {sup 36}Ca which was produced in a knockout reaction from a radioactive {sup 37}Ca beam. For {sup 36}Ca, the excitation energy of the first 2{sup +} state has been measured for the first time. Furthermore, momentum distributions were analyzed using a Monte-Carlo simulation of the knockout reaction. This analysis yielded the contributions of neutrons from individual orbitals to the total knockout cross section. In principle, these may be used to calculate spectroscopic factors, but such a calculation is hampered by difficulties of present knockout-reaction models in predicting precise single-particle cross sections. The measured branching ratio to the ground and excited states, on the other hand, is close to the predicted value. A remaining difference might be due to emission of protons which cannot be detected with the present experimental setup. Both the branching ratio and the large excitation energy are compatible with a large N=16 gap in {sup 36}Ca that leads to relatively pure configurations both in the ground state and the excited 2{sup +} state. As a by-product of the experiment, two excitation energies in the T=2 nuclei {sup 32}Ar and {sup 28}S have been confirmed, and two {gamma}-ray transitions have been observed for the first time in {sup 37}Ca. While the mirror energy differences in the T=2 pairs {sup 36}Ca-{sup 36}S, {sup 32}Ar-{sup 32}Si, and {sup 28}S-{sup 28}Mg can be reproduced in shell model calculations using a modified USD interaction, these modifications are not sufficient to explain the mirror energy differences for the pair {sup 37}Ca-{sup 37}Cl. In the heavy Cr isotopes, new experimental evidence for a sub-shell closure at N=32 was found in a measurement of B(E2) values using high

Determination of heavy water in heavy water - light water mixtures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanhueza M, A.

1986-01-01

A description about experimental methodology to determine isotopic composition of heavy water - light water mixtures is presented. The employed methods are Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, for measuring heavy water concentrations from 0 to 100% with intervals of 10% approx., and mass Spectrometry, for measuring heavy water concentrations from 0.1 to 1% with intervals of 0.15% approx., by means of an indirect method of Dilution. (Author)

[Determination of deuterium concentration in foods and influence of water with modified isotopic composition on oxidation parameters and heavy hydrogen isotopes content in experimental animals].

Science.gov (United States)

Basov, A A; Bykov, I M; Baryshev, M G; Dzhimak, S S; Bykov, M I

2014-01-01

The article presents the results of the study of the deuterium (D) content in food products as well as the influence of deuterium depleted water (DDW) on the concentration of heavy hydrogen isotopes in the blood and lyophilized tissues of rats. The most significant difference in the content of D was found between potato and pork fat, which indexes the standard delta notation (δ) D in promille, related to the international standard SMOW (Standard Mean Ocean of Water) amounted to -83,2 per thousand and -250,7 per thousand, respectively (phydrogen atoms in the body. The data obtained in the experimental modeling of the diet of male Wistar rats in the age of 5-6 mo (weight 235 ± 16 g) using DDW (δD = -743,2 per thousand) instead of drinking water (δD = -37,0 per thousand) with identical mineral composition showed that after 2 weeks significant (p tissue") is due to different rates ofisotopic exchange reactions in plasma and tissues (liver, kidney, heart), which can be explained by entering into the composition of a modified diet of organic substrates with more than DDW concentration D, which are involved in the construction of cellular structures and eventually lead to a redistribution of D and change direction of D/H gradient "plasmaisotopic composition, aimed at reducing the level of heavy non-radioactive atoms will allow the targeted nutritional correction of prooxidant-antioxidant status of the population in areas with adverse environmental conditions, stimulating by created isotopic D/H gradient cytoprotective mechanisms influencing the various components of nonspecific protection, including free radical oxidation processes. And then again, periodic assessment of the isotopic composition of nutrients will monitor the quality of food consumed by the population, and if

Nickel distribution and isotopic fractionation in a Brazilian lateritic regolith: Coupling Ni isotopes and Ni K-edge XANES

Science.gov (United States)

Ratié, G.; Garnier, J.; Calmels, D.; Vantelon, D.; Guimarães, E.; Monvoisin, G.; Nouet, J.; Ponzevera, E.; Quantin, C.

2018-06-01

Ultramafic (UM) rocks are known to be nickel (Ni) rich and to weather quickly, which makes them a good candidate to look at the Ni isotope systematics during weathering processes at the Earth's surface. The present study aims at identifying the Ni solid speciation and discussing the weathering processes that produce Ni isotope fractionation in two deep laterite profiles under tropical conditions (Barro Alto, Goiás State, Brazil). While phyllosilicates and to a lower extent goethite are the main Ni-bearing phases in the saprolitic part of the profile, iron (Fe) oxides dominate the Ni budget in the lateritic unit. Nickel isotopic composition (δ60Ni values) has been measured in each unit of the regolith, i.e., rock, saprock, saprolite and laterite (n = 52). δ60Ni varies widely within the two laterite profiles, from -0.10 ± 0.05‰ to 1.43 ± 0.05‰, showing that significant Ni isotope fractionation occurs during the weathering of UM rocks. Overall, our results show that during weathering, the solid phase is depleted in heavy Ni isotopes due to the preferential sorption and incorporation of light Ni isotopes into Fe oxides; the same mechanisms likely apply to the incorporation of Ni into phyllosilicates (type 2:1). However, an isotopically heavy Ni pool is observed in the solid phase at the bottom of the saprolitic unit. This feature can be explained by two hypotheses that are not mutually exclusive: (i) a depletion in light Ni isotopes during the first stage of weathering due to the preferential dissolution of light Ni-containing minerals, and (ii) the sorption or incorporation of isotopically heavy Ni carried by percolating waters (groundwater samples have δ60Ni of 2.20 and 2.27‰), that were enriched in heavy Ni isotopes due to successive weathering processes in the overlying soil and laterite units.

Gas-centrifuge unit and centrifugal process for isotope separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stark, T.M.

1979-01-01

An invention involving a process and apparatus for isotope-separation applications such as uranium-isotope enrichment is disclosed which employs cascades of gas centrifuges. A preferred apparatus relates to an isotope-enrichment unit which includes a first group of cascades of gas centrifuges and an auxiliary cascade. Each cascade has an input, a light-fraction output, and a heavy-fraction output for separating a gaseous-mixture feed including a compound of a light nuclear isotope and a compound of a heavy nuclear isotope into light and heavy fractions respectively enriched and depleted in the light isotope. The cascades of the first group have at least one enriching stage and at least one stripping stage. The unit further includes means for introducing a gaseous-mixture feedstock into each input of the first group of cascades, means for withdrawing at least a portion of a product fraction from the light-fraction outputs of the first group of cascades, and means for withdrawing at least a portion of a waste fraction from the heavy-fraction outputs of the first group of cascades. The isotope-enrichment unit also includes a means for conveying a gaseous-mixture from a light-fraction output of a first cascade included in the first group to the input of the auxiliary cascade so that at least a portion of a light gaseous-mixture fraction produced by the first group of cascades is further separated into a light and a heavy fraction by the auxiliary cascade. At least a portion of a product fraction is withdrawn from the light fraction output of the auxiliary cascade. If the light-fraction output of the first cascade and the heavy-fraction output of the auxiliary cascade are reciprocal outputs, the concentraton of the light isotope in the heavy fraction produced by the auxiliary cascade essentially equals the concentration of the light isotope in the gaseous-mixture feedstock

[Fractionation of hydrogen stable isotopes in the human body].

Science.gov (United States)

Siniak, Iu E; Grigor'ev, A I; Skuratov, V M; Ivanova, S M; Pokrovskiĭ, B G

2006-01-01

Fractionation of hydrogen stable isotopes was studied in 9 human subjects in a chamber with normal air pressure imitating a space cabin. Mass-spectrometry of isotopes in blood, urine, saliva, and potable water evidenced increases in the contents of heavy H isotope (deuterium) in the body liquids as compared with water. These results support one of the theories according to which the human organism eliminates heavy stable isotopes of biogenous chemical elements.

Extending the product variety at ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preda, M.; Patrascu, M.; Achimescu, D.; Stroia, A.

2004-01-01

Full text: Having in mind that the prospects of operating the ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant are conditioned by both the heavy water market demand and the wear of the equipment which is exposed to hydrogen sulfide-induced corrosion, some possibilities were considered to extend the assortment of products, the production of which could ensure the plant's operation on long term. The proposals here refer to promoting the efficient production of oxygen-isotope-based products which would optimize maximally the exploit of available raw materials, supply and utilities of the ROMAG compound. The market manifests a significant demand of water enriched in the 18 O isotope up to 95-97% purity that is used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This oxygen isotope is also used as a labelling agent in studies of reaction mechanisms and paleo-climatologic studies as well. Some research evidenced the superconducting properties of some oxygen compounds containing the 18 O isotope. The isotope 17 O has applications in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) as being the sole oxygen isotope endowed with a nuclear magnetic moment. On the other hand, it was found that although the 16 O isotope has a natural abundance of 99.8%, applications exist that require the absolute purity of this isotope i.e. the elimination of the other oxygen isotopes as is the case of fission reactors with Plutonium dioxide as nuclear fuel. The methods applied on industrial scale for enriching the oxygen isotopes are based on distillation of some oxygen compounds such as water and nitrogen monoxide. The possibility of a supplementary distillation of the heavy water at a distillation line of ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant was considered in order to enrich the heavy water in the 17 O and 18 O isotopes up to an upper limit of 2-5% for 18 O. Obtaining the heavy isotopes of oxygen by distillation of heavy water is characterized by several aspects as the following ones: a high specific consumption of steam due to both the low

Deuterium and heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasaru, G.; Ursu, D.; Mihaila, A.; Szentgyorgyi, P.

1975-01-01

This bibliography on deuterium and heavy water contains 3763 references (1932-1974) from 43 sources of information. An author index and a subject index are given. The latter contains a list of 136 subjects, arranged in 13 main topics: abundance of deuterium , catalysts, catalytic exchange, chemical equilibria, chemical kinetics, deuterium and heavy water analysis, deuterium and heavy water properties, deuterium and heavy water separation, exchange reactions, general review, heavy water as moderator, isotope effects, synthesis of deuterium compounds

Determination of isotopic purity in heavy water to suit process requirement (Preprint No. CA-15)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kanthiah, W S.A.; Srinivasan, K; Usuf Ali, M C.M. [Heavy Water Plant, Tuticorin (India)

1989-04-01

In hydrogen/ammonia based heavy water plants, a simple specific gravity determination of heavy water without any purification or thermostating has proved to be simple and easy. The accuracy is found to be well within +- 0.5% in the isotopic purity (I.P) range of 30 to 90% W/W. There are three main methods that can be adopted for determination of I.P in this range: (1)refractometry, (2) infrared spectrophotometry, and (3) pycnometry. Refractrometry requires thermostating and the practical accuracy attainable is +- 1.5% W/W. Infrared spectrophotometer has a reported accuracy/ precision of +- 0.4%. Pycnometric analysis is simple and requires much less expertise and most suited for plant analyses. An accuracy better than +- 0.5% is attained without giving any correction for buoyancy, weighing to accuracy +- 0.1 mg, measuring temperature +- 0.2degC and sample having pH upto 3. (author). 8 annexures.

Techniques for preparing isotopic targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Guoji; Guan Shouren; Luo Xinghua; Sun Shuhua

1987-12-01

The techniques of making isotopic targets for nuclear physics experiments are introduced. Vacuum evaporation, electroplating, centrifugal precipitation, rolling and focused heavy-ion beam sputtering used to prepare various isotopic targets at IAE are described. Reduction-distillation with active metals and electrolytic reduction for converting isotope oxides to metals are mentioned. The stripping processes of producing self-supporting isotopic targets are summarized. The store methods of metallic targets are given

Dynamic response of the high flux isotope reactor structure caused by nearby heavy load drop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Shih-Jung.

1995-01-01

A heavy load of 50,000 lb is assumed to drop from 10 ft above the bottom of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) pool at the loading station. The consequences of the dynamic impact to the bottom slab of the pool and to the nearby HFIR reactor vessel are analyzed by applying the ABAQUS computer code The results show that both the BM vessel structure and its supporting legs are subjected to elastic disturbances only and, therefore, will not be damaged. The bottom slab of the pool, however, will be damaged to about half of the slab thickness. The velocity response spectrum at the concrete floor next to the HFIR vessel as a result of the vibration caused by the impact is obtained. It is concluded, that the damage caused by heavy load drop at the loading station is controlled by the slab damage and the nearby HFIR vessel and the supporting legs will not be damaged

Determination of isotopic purity in heavy water to suit process requirement (Preprint No. CA-15)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanthiah, W.S.A.; Srinivasan, K.; Usuf Ali, M.C.M.

1989-04-01

In hydrogen/ammonia based heavy water plants, a simple specific gravity determination of heavy water without any purification or thermostating has proved to be simple and easy. The accuracy is found to be well within ± 0.5% in the isotopic purity (I.P) range of 30 to 90% W/W. There are three main methods that can be adopted for determination of I.P in this range: (1)refractometry, (2) infrared spectrophotometry, and (3) pycnometry. Refractrometry requires thermostating and the practical accuracy attainable is ± 1.5% W/W. Infrared spectrophotometer has a reported accuracy/ precision of ± 0.4%. Pycnometric analysis is simple and requires much less expertise and most suited for plant analyses. An accuracy better than ± 0.5% is attained without giving any correction for buoyancy, weighing to accuracy ± 0.1 mg, measuring temperature ± 0.2degC and sample having pH upto 3. (author). 8 annexures

Improvement in fuel utilization in pressurized heavy water reactors due to increased heavy water purity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balakrishnan, M.R.

1991-01-01

This paper reports that in a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR), the reactivity of the reactor and, consequently, the discharge burnup of the fuel depend on the isotopic purity of the heavy water used in the reactor. The optimal purity of heavy water used in PHWRs, in turn, depends on the cost of fabricated uranium fuel and on the incremental cost incurred in improving the heavy water purity. The physics and economics aspects of the desirability of increasing the heavy water purity in PHWRs in India were first examined in 1978. With the cost data available at that time, it was found that improving the heavy water purity from 99.80% to 99.95% was economically attractive. The same problem is reinvestigated with current cost data. Even now, there is sufficient incentive to improve the isotopic purity of heavy water used in PHWRs. Admittedly, the economic advantage that can be derived depends on the cost of the fabricated fuel. Nevertheless, irrespective of the economics, there is also a fairly substantial saving in natural uranium. That the increase in the heavy water purity is to be maintained only in the low-pressure moderator system, and not in the high-pressure coolant system, makes the option of achieving higher fuel burnup with higher heavy water purity feasible

Shifts in rotifer life history in response to stable isotope enrichment: testing theories of isotope effects on organismal growth

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

In ecology, stable isotope labelling is commonly used for tracing material transfer in trophic interactions, nutrient budgets and biogeochemical processes. The main assumption in this approach is that the enrichment with a heavy isotope has no effect on the organism growth and metabolism. This assumption is, however, challenged by theoretical considerations and experimental studies on kinetic isotope effects in vivo. Here, I demonstrate profound changes in life histories of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis fed 15N-enriched algae (0.4–5.0 at%); i.e. at the enrichment levels commonly used in ecological studies. These findings support theoretically predicted effects of heavy isotope enrichment on growth, metabolism and ageing in biological systems and underline the importance of accounting for such effects when using stable isotope labelling in experimental studies. PMID:28405367

Analytical performance of refractometry in quantitative estimation of isotopic concentration of heavy water in nuclear reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dhole, K.; Ghosh, S.; Datta, A.; Tripathy, M.K.; Bose, H.; Roy, M.; Tyagi, A.K.

2011-01-01

The method of refractometry has been investigated for the quantitative estimation of isotopic concentration of D 2 O (heavy water) in a simulated water sample. Viability of Refractometry as an excellent analytical technique for rapid and non-invasive determination of D 2 O concentration in water samples has been demonstrated. Temperature of the samples was precisely controlled to eliminate effect of temperature fluctuation on refractive index measurement. Calibration performance by this technique exhibited reasonable analytical response over a wide range (1-100%) of D 2 O concentration. (author)

Measurement of mass and isotopic fission yields for heavy fission products with the LOHENGRIN mass spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bail, A.

2009-05-01

In spite of the huge amount of fission yield data available in different libraries, more accurate values are still needed for nuclear energy applications and to improve our understanding of the fission process. Thus measurements of fission yields were performed at the mass spectrometer Lohengrin at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France. The mass separator Lohengrin is situated at the research reactor of the institute and permits the placement of an actinide layer in a high thermal neutron flux. It separates fragments according to their atomic mass, kinetic energy and ionic charge state by the action of magnetic and electric fields. Coupled to a high resolution ionization chamber the experiment was used to investigate the mass and isotopic yields of the light mass region. Almost all fission yields of isotopes from Th to Cf have been measured at Lohengrin with this method. To complete and improve the nuclear data libraries, these measurements have been extended in this work to the heavy mass region for the reactions 235 U(n th ,f), 239 Pu(n th ,f) and 241 Pu(n th ,f). For these higher masses an isotopic separation is no longer possible. So, a new method was undertaken with the reaction 239 Pu(n th ,f) to determine the isotopic yields by spectrometry. These experiments have allowed to reduce considerably the uncertainties. Moreover the ionic charge state and kinetic energy distributions were specifically studied and have shown, among others, nanosecond isomers for some masses. (author)

Laser separation of isotopes of hydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dave, S.M.; Ghosh, S.K.; Sadhukhan, H.K.

1980-01-01

Laser isotope separation technique is explained and various methods based on the technique are discussed in detail. Requirements of any laser isotope separation method to be acceptable for the production of heavy water are mentioned and economic viability of this process for heavy water production is examined. Investigations carried out to use this technique for deuterium separation using methanol, formaldehyde, propynal, 2,2,-dichloro-1-1-1,-trifluoroethane (Freon 123), polyvinyl chloride and fluoroform-d are reviewed. (M.G.B.)

Radiochemical studies of neutron deficient actinide isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, K.E.

1978-04-01

The production of neutron deficient actinide isotopes in heavy ion reactions was studied using alpha, gamma, x-ray, and spontaneous fission detection systems. A new isotope of berkelium, 242 Bk, was produced with a cross-section of approximately 10 μb in reactions of boron on uranium and nitrogen on thorium. It decays by electron capture with a half-life of 7.0 +- 1.3 minutes. The alpha-branching ratio for this isotope is less than 1% and the spontaneous fission ratio is less than 0.03%. Studies of (Heavy Ion, pxn) and (Heavy Ion, αxn) transfer reactions in comparison with (Heavy ion, xn) compound nucleus reactions revealed transfer reaction cross-sections equal to or greater than the compound nucleus yields. The data show that in some cases the yield of an isotope produced via a (H.I.,pxn) or (H.I.,αxn) reaction may be higher than its production via an xn compound nucleus reaction. These results have dire consequences for proponents of the ''Z 1 + Z 2 = Z/sub 1+2/'' philosophy. It is no longer acceptable to assume that (H.I.,pxn) and (H.I.,αxn) product yields are of no consequence when studying compound nucleus reactions. No evidence for spontaneous fission decay of 228 Pu, 230 Pu, 232 Cm, or 238 Cf was observed indicating that strictly empirical extrapolations of spontaneous fission half-life data is inadequate for predictions of half-lives for unknown neutron deficient actinide isotopes

Production of heavy water by photodesorption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gangwer, T.; Goldstein, M.K.

1976-01-01

Research has recently brought attention to the laser as a tool for isotope enrichment. So far the main thrust of this effort has been toward uranium enrichment; however, numerous successes in other areas have been demonstrated. Isotopes of boron, sulfur, chlorine, and carbon have been separated. A new technique is proposed for laser isotope enrichment. The technique, referred to as photodesorption, involves selective isotopic excitation of molecules adsorbed on a surface such that an enrichment results from subsequent physical or chemical events undergone by the excited molecules. The specific processes of concern are the physical photodesorption enrichment of heavy water from light water and tritiated water from heavy water. The ability to work directly with water molecules has significant advantages for a commercial process. A photodesorption enrichment process has been forumulated and some analyses have been performed. This process is described and some preliminary cost estimates are made which assume successful accomplishment of the major R and D objectives of the new process. The results indicate that the process has the promise of a significant reduction in the cost of heavy water and that further study is warranted

Rate-controlling two-proton transfer coupled with heavy-atom motion in the 2-pyridinone-catalyzed mutarotation of tetramethylglucose. Experimental and calculated deuterium isotope effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engdahl, K.A.; Bivehed, H.; Ahlberg, P.; Saunders, W.H. Jr.

1983-01-01

Primary and secondary deuterium isotope effects have been measured by polarimetry, and primary isotope effects have been calculated for the classical bifunctional catalysis: 2-pyridinone-catalyzed mutarotation of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranose (α-TMG) in benzene. From the positively curved plot of the specific rate of epimerization vs. the mole fraction of 2 H in the ''pool'' of OH and NH hydrogens, the isotope effects k/sub HH//k/sub DD/ = 3.66 +/- 0.09, k/sub HH//k/sub DH/ = 1.5, and k/sub HH//k/sub HD/ = 2.4 have been calculated. A secondary isotope effect of 1.14 +/- 0.02 has been measured by using α-TMG and (1- 2 H)-2,3,4,6-tetra-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranose [(l- 2 H)-α-TMG], the synthesis of which is described in detail, together with those for (N- 2 H)-2-pyridinone and (1-O- 2 H)-2,3,4,6-tetra-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranose [(1-O- 2 H)-α-TMG]. The rate data obtained have also been analyzed by fractionation theory, yielding approximately equal fractionation factors (0.5). The interpretation of the results has been assisted by calculations of the primary deuterium isotope effects using the BEBOVIB IV program. Two models involving small and considerable coupling, respectively, of the transferring protons to heavy-atom motion have been considered. In the favored structure for the transition state of the rate-limiting step, two protons are in transit, and their motion is governed either by a potential with a barrier or by one without. Their motion is considerably coupled to the heavy-atom motion (i.e., the breakage of the ring C-O bond), and tunnel corrections to the isotope effects are found to be negligible

Transfer products from the reactions of heavy ions with heavy nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, K.E. III.

1979-11-01

Production of nuclides heavier than the target from 86 Kr- and 136 Xe-induced reactions with 181 Ta and 238 U was investigated. Attempts were made to produce new neutron-excess Np and Pu isotopes by the deep inelastic mechanism. No evidence was found for 242 Np or 247 Pu. Estimates were made for the production of 242 Np, 247 Pu, and 248 Am from heavy-ion reactions with uranium targets. Comparisons of reactions of 86 Kr and 136 Xe ions with thick 181 Ta targets and 86 Kr, 136 Xe and 238 U ions with thick 238 U targets indicate that the most probable products are not dependent on the projectile. The most probable products can be predicted by the equation Z - Z/sub target/ = 0.43 (A - A/sub target/) + 1.0. The major effect of the projectile is the magnitude of the production cross section of the heavy products. Based on these results, estimates are made of the most probable mass of element 114 produced from heavy-ion reactions with 248 Cm and 254 Es targets. These estimates give the mass number of element 114 as approx. 287 if produced in heavy-ion reactions with these very heavy targets. Excitation functions of gold and bismuth isotopes arising from 86 Kr- and 136 Xe-induced reactions with thin 181 Ta targets were measured. These results indicate that the shape and location (in Z and A above the target) of the isotopic distributions are not strongly dependent on the projectile incident energy. Also, the nuclidic cross sections are found to increase with an increase in projectile energy to a maximum at approximately 1.4 to 1.5 times the Coulomb barrier. Above this maximum, the nuclidic cross sections are found to decrease with an increase in projectile energy. This decrease in cross section is believed to be due to fission of the heavy products caused by high excitation energy and angular momentum. 111 references, 39 figures, 34 tables

Flood of new isotopes offers keys to stellar evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Normile, D.

1996-01-01

Germany's heavy-ion accelerator laboratory, GSI, is renowned for giving researchers the tools needed to create the six heaviest elements in the periodic table. But the facility is also helping scientist fill gaps at an unprecedented rate in another important atomic listing - a chart of unstable isotopes. Measuring the mass and lifetimes of those isotopes, in turn, could help scientist confirm theories about how supernovae produce heavy elements and distribute them throughout the universe. This article describes both the research process and some of the isotopes

Influence of throttling of the heavy fraction on the uranium isotope separation in the separation nozzle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bley, P.; Ehrfeld, W.; Heiden, U.

1978-04-01

In a separation nozzle cascade for enrichment of U-235 the cut of the separation elements is adjusted by throttling the heavy fraction. This control process influences directly the flow properties in the nozzle and may noticeably change its separation characteristics. This paper deals with an experimental investigation of the throttling effect on the separation and control characteristics of the separation nozzle operated with a H 2 /UF 6 mixture. In consideration of the extremely small characteristic dimensions of commercial separation nozzle elements the influence of manufacturing tolerances on the characteristics of the throttled nozzle was analysed in detail. It appears, that the elementary effect of isotope separation increases by throttling of the heavy fraction up to 5% without changing the optimum operating conditions. This increase of the elementary effect is not only obtained for separation nozzles with zero tolerances but also for separation nozzles having finite tolerances of the skimmer position. Tolerances of the nozzle width, however, become increasingly detrimental, when the heavy fraction is throttled. Regarding the control characteristics of the separation nozzle it was found out, that the UF 6 -cut of the throttled nozzle reacts more sensitively to alterations of the operating pressures and less sensitively to alterations of the UF 6 -concentration of the process gas mixture. (orig.) [de

Optimization of the operational parameters in isotopic exchange installations. ROMAG PROD plant production of heavy water for the nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pop, A.

2002-01-01

The ROMAG PROD heavy water plant at Drobeta Turnu Severin together with SN Nuclearelectrica Company and Nuclear Fuel Plant at Pitesti are the most important pillars the National Nuclear Program is based on. The plant became operational on 17th July 1988, was later modernized and now reached in the field a leading position known world wide. There are described the modifications adopted to the two stages of the isotopic exchange installation besides some refurbishment measures of general character. The increase of discharge flow rate in cool columns vs hot columns resulted in a rise of technological regime stability and the feeding rate. Also in the first stage the stripping vapor injection in the hot columns was modified to avoid vacuum excursion in the columns. In the second stage two isotopic exchange trays were replaced with dry trays to obtain drop separation at the cool column top. All the trays from the isotopic exchange section of the cool column were replaced by trays from the hot column. The thermal exchange zone in the cool column was modified by introducing trays with number of holes. The gas flow rate of the stage two compressor was adapted to the design requirements. By these changes of the parameters in the original design were substantially improved, the operation became easier, more secure and safer for the environment while the production of the heavy water doubled between 1995 and 2001 reaching a value of 163 t/y in 2001

Chromium isotope variations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

D'Arcy, Joan Mary

the δ53Cr value of continental runoff into the ocean. The major findings were that river water is characterised by heavy δ53Cr values (+0.1‰ to +1.6‰), while soils are characterised by light δ53Cr values (-0.3‰), relative to the catchment bedrock (-0.17‰ to -0.21‰), indicating that Cr isotopes......, and the quantification the Cr isotope composition of major Cr fluxes into and out of ocean. This thesis adds to the current knowledge of the Cr isotope system and is divided into two studies. The focus of the first study was to determine what processes control the Cr isotopic compositionof river water and to quantify......Chromium (Cr) stable isotopes are a useful tracer of changes in redox conditions because changes in its oxidation state are accompanied by an isotopic fractionation. For this reason the Cr isotope system is being developed as a potential tool for paleo-redox reconstruction. Dissolved Cr in seawater...

Radiochemical studies of neutron deficient actinide isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Williams, K.E.

1978-04-01

The production of neutron deficient actinide isotopes in heavy ion reactions was studied using alpha, gamma, x-ray, and spontaneous fission detection systems. A new isotope of berkelium, /sup 242/Bk, was produced with a cross-section of approximately 10 ..mu..b in reactions of boron on uranium and nitrogen on thorium. It decays by electron capture with a half-life of 7.0 +- 1.3 minutes. The alpha-branching ratio for this isotope is less than 1% and the spontaneous fission ratio is less than 0.03%. Studies of (Heavy Ion, pxn) and (Heavy Ion, ..cap alpha..xn) transfer reactions in comparison with (Heavy ion, xn) compound nucleus reactions revealed transfer reaction cross-sections equal to or greater than the compound nucleus yields. The data show that in some cases the yield of an isotope produced via a (H.I.,pxn) or (H.I.,..cap alpha..xn) reaction may be higher than its production via an xn compound nucleus reaction. These results have dire consequences for proponents of the ''Z/sub 1/ + Z/sub 2/ = Z/sub 1+2/'' philosophy. It is no longer acceptable to assume that (H.I.,pxn) and (H.I.,..cap alpha..xn) product yields are of no consequence when studying compound nucleus reactions. No evidence for spontaneous fission decay of /sup 228/Pu, /sup 230/Pu, /sup 232/Cm, or /sup 238/Cf was observed indicating that strictly empirical extrapolations of spontaneous fission half-life data is inadequate for predictions of half-lives for unknown neutron deficient actinide isotopes.

Low energy methods of molecular laser isotope separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makarov, G N

2015-01-01

Of the many proposals to date for laser-assisted isotope separation methods, isotope-selective infrared (IR) multiphoton dissociation (MPD) of molecules has been the most fully developed. This concept served as the basis for the development and operation of the carbon isotope separation facility in Kaliningrad, Russia. The extension of this method to heavy elements, including uranium, is hindered by, among other factors, the high power consumption and the lack of high-efficiency high-power laser systems. In this connection, research and development covering low energy methods for the laser separation of isotopes (including those of heavy atoms) is currently in high demand. This paper reviews approaches to the realization of IR-laser-induced isotope-selective processes, some of which are potentially the basis on which low-energy methods for molecular laser isotope separation can be developed. The basic physics and chemistry, application potential, and strengths and weaknesses of these approaches are discussed. Potentially promising alternatives to the title methods are examined. (reviews of topical problems)

Nuclear structure studies of neutron-rich heavy nuclei by mass measurements of francium and radium isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosenbusch, Marco [Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universitaet, Institut fuer Physik, 17487 Greifswald (Germany); Collaboration: ISOLTRAP-Collaboration

2013-07-01

The mass is a unique property of an atomic nucleus reflecting its binding energy and thus the sum of all interactions at work. Precise measurements of nuclear masses especially of short-lived exotic nuclides provide important input for nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics, tests of the Standard Model, and weak interaction studies. The Penning-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE/CERN has been set up for precision mass measurements and continuously improved for accessing more exotic nuclides. The mass uncertainty is typically δm / m=10{sup -8} and the accessible half-life has been reduced to about 50 ms. In this contribution, the results of a measurement campaign of neutron-rich francium and radium isotopes will be presented, i.e. the masses of the isotopic chain of {sup 224-233}Fr and {sup 233,234}Ra, one of the most neutron-rich ensemble obtainable at ISOL facilities. The mass {sup 234}Ra denotes the heaviest mass ever measured with ISOLTRAP. Experimental data in the neutron-rich, heavy mass region is of great interest for studies of structural evolution far from stability, especially because the knowledge from nuclear mass models is scarce. The impact of the new data on the physics in this mass region as well as recent technical developments of ISOLTRAP are discussed.

Transition-state analysis of a Vmax mutant of AMP nucleosidase by the application of heavy-atom kinetic isotope effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parkin, D.W.; Mentch, F.; Banks, G.A.; Horenstein, B.A.; Schramm, V.L.

1991-01-01

The transition state of the V max mutant of AMP nucleosidase from Azotobacter vinelandii has been characterized by heavy-atom kinetic isotope effects in the presence and absence of MgATP, the allosteric activator. The enzyme catalyzes hydrolysis of the N-glycosidic bond of AMP at approximately 2% of the rate of the normal enzyme with only minor changes in the K m for substrate, the activation constant for MgATP, and the K i for formycin 5'-phosphate, a tight-binding competitive inhibitor. Isotope effects were measured as a function of the allosteric activator concentration that increases the turnover number of the enzyme from 0.006 s -1 . The kinetic isotope effects were measured with the substrates [1'- 3 H]AMP, [2'- 2 H]AMP, [9- 15 N]AMP, and [1',9- 14 C, 15 N]AMP. All substrates gave significant kinetic isotope effects in a pattern that establishes that the reaction expresses intrinsic kinetic isotope effects in the presence or absence of MgATP. Transition-state analysis using bond-energy and bond-order vibrational analysis indicated that the transition state for the mutant enzyme has a similar position in the reaction coordinate compared to that for the normal enzyme. The mutant enzyme is less effective in stabilizing the carbocation-like intermediate and in the ability to protonate N7 of adenine to create a better leaving group. This altered transition-state structure was confirmed by an altered substrate specificity for the mutant protein

Heavy water. A production alternative for Venezuela

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A survey of heavy water production methods is made. Main facts about isotopic and distillation methods, reforming and coupling to a Hydrogen distillation plant are presented. A feasibility study on heavy water production in Venezuela is suggested

The momentum-loss achromat - a new method for the isotopical separation of relativistic heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, K.H.; Geissel, H.; Muenzenberg, G.; Dufour, J.P.; Hanelt, E.

1987-03-01

The application of the slowing-down process of relativistic heavy ions in a layer of matter in ion-optical devices is theoretically investigated. The modifications of the phase space of the ion beam due to the dissipative forces and the straggling phenomena are discussed. Methods are developed to study the properties of the momentum-loss achromat, an isotope separator consisting of an achromatic magnetic system with an energy degrader located in the intermediate dispersive focal plane. This device separates projectile fragments with respect to A and Z up to uranium over a wide energy range with an efficiency in the order of 50% and with separation times of several hundred nanoseconds. (orig.)

Procedure and equipment for the separation of isotopes for deuterium upgrading and for the production of heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schoell, M.

1981-01-01

The invention concerns a simple procedure for the separation of isotopes for the enrichment of deuterium and for the production of heavy water as well as the equipment necessary for carrying out the process. Methane is conducted over bacterial cultures oxidizing methane to water and carbon dioxide. An enrichment of deuterium takes place in non-oxidized methane. The bacterial cultures are placed on carriers that are arranged in oxidation columns as baffle plates. Several oxidation towers of this kind can be arranged in series. (orig./RW) [de

Kinetic control on Zn isotope signatures recorded in marine diatoms

Science.gov (United States)

Köbberich, Michael; Vance, Derek

2017-08-01

Marine diatoms dominate the oceanic cycle of the essential micronutrient zinc (Zn). The stable isotopes of zinc and other metals are increasingly used to understand trace metal micronutrient cycling in the oceans. One clear feature of the early isotope data is the heavy Zn isotope signature of the average oceanic dissolved pool relative to the inputs, potentially driven by uptake of light isotopes into phytoplankton cells and export to sediments. However, despite the fact that diatoms strip Zn from surface waters across the Antarctic polar front in the Southern Ocean, the local upper ocean is not isotopically heavy. Here we use culturing experiments to quantify the extent of Zn isotope fractionation by diatoms and to elucidate the mechanisms driving it. We have cultured two different open-ocean diatom species (T. oceanica and Chaetoceros sp.) in a series of experiments at constant medium Zn concentration but at bioavailable medium Fe ranging from limiting to replete. We find that T. oceanica can maintain high growth rates and Zn uptake rates over the full range of bioavailable iron (Fe) investigated, and that the Zn taken up has a δ66Zn that is unfractionated relative to that of the bioavailable free Zn in the medium. The studied representative of the genus Chaetoceros, on the other hand, shows more significantly reduced Zn uptake rates at low Fe and records more variable biomass δ66Zn signatures, of up to 0.85‰ heavier than the medium. We interpret the preferential uptake of heavy isotopes at extremely low Zn uptake rates as potentially due to either of the following two mechanisms. First, the release of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), at low Fe levels, may preferentially scavenge heavy Zn isotopes. Second, the Zn uptake rate may be slow enough to establish pseudo-equilibrium conditions at the transporter site, with heavy Zn isotopes forming more stable surface complexes. Thus we find that, in our experiments, Fe-limitation exerts a key control that

The heavy water production plant at Arroyito, Argentina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ecabert, R.

1984-01-01

The author describes the construction of an industrial heavy water production plant (Planta Industrial de Agua Pesada, PIAP) in Argentina. The heavy water enrichment is based on a hydrogen/ammonia isotope exchange. (Auth.)

Dielectrophoretic separation of gaseous isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConnell, D.B.

1975-01-01

Gaseous isotopes are separated from a mixture in a vertically elongated chamber by subjecting the mixture to a nonuniform transverse electric field. Dielectrophoretic separation of the isotopes is effected, producing a transverse temperature gradient in the chamber, thereby enhancing the separation by convective countercurrent flow. In the example given, the process and apparatus are applied to the production of heavy water from steam

Topical and working papers on heavy water requirements and availability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The documents included in this report are: Heavy water requirements and availability; technological infrastructure for heavy water plants; heavy water plant siting; hydrogen and methane availability; economics of heavy water production; monothermal, water fed heavy water process based on the ammonia/hydrogen isotopic exchange; production strategies to meet demand projections; hydrogen availability; deuterium sources; the independent UHDE heavy water process

Protein-based stable isotope probing.

Science.gov (United States)

Jehmlich, Nico; Schmidt, Frank; Taubert, Martin; Seifert, Jana; Bastida, Felipe; von Bergen, Martin; Richnow, Hans-Hermann; Vogt, Carsten

2010-12-01

We describe a stable isotope probing (SIP) technique that was developed to link microbe-specific metabolic function to phylogenetic information. Carbon ((13)C)- or nitrogen ((15)N)-labeled substrates (typically with >98% heavy label) were used in cultivation experiments and the heavy isotope incorporation into proteins (protein-SIP) on growth was determined. The amount of incorporation provides a measure for assimilation of a substrate, and the sequence information from peptide analysis obtained by mass spectrometry delivers phylogenetic information about the microorganisms responsible for the metabolism of the particular substrate. In this article, we provide guidelines for incubating microbial cultures with labeled substrates and a protocol for protein-SIP. The protocol guides readers through the proteomics pipeline, including protein extraction, gel-free and gel-based protein separation, the subsequent mass spectrometric analysis of peptides and the calculation of the incorporation of stable isotopes into peptides. Extraction of proteins and the mass fingerprint measurements of unlabeled and labeled fractions can be performed in 2-3 d.

Interhemispheric leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate in the eastern tropical Pacific during the last glacial period

Science.gov (United States)

Pichevin, Laetitia E.; Ganeshram, Raja S.; Francavilla, Stephen; Arellano-Torres, Elsa; Pedersen, Tom F.; Beaufort, Luc

2010-02-01

We present new high-resolution N isotope records from the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the Nicaragua Basin spanning the last 50-70 ka. The Tehuantepec site is situated within the core of the north subtropical denitrification zone while the Nicaragua site is at the southern boundary. The δ15N record from Nicaragua shows an “Antarctic” timing similar to denitrification changes observed off Peru-Chile but is radically different from the northern records. We attribute this to the leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate from the South Pacific oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) into the Nicaragua Basin. The Nicaragua record leads the other eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) records by about 1000 years because denitrification peaks in the eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) before denitrification starts to increase in the Northern Hemisphere OMZ, i.e., during warming episodes in Antarctica. We find that the influence of the heavy nitrate leakage from the ETSP is still noticeable, although attenuated, in the Gulf of Tehuantepec record, particularly at the end of the Heinrich events, and tends to alter the recording of millennial timescale denitrification changes in the ETNP. This implies (1) that sedimentary δ15N records from the southern parts of the ETNP cannot be used straightforwardly as a proxy for local denitrification and (2) that denitrification history in the ETNP, like in the Arabian Sea, is synchronous with Greenland temperature changes. These observations reinforce the conclusion that on millennial timescales during the last ice age, denitrification in the ETNP is strongly influenced by climatic variations that originated in the high-latitude North Atlantic region, while commensurate changes in Southern Ocean hydrography more directly, and slightly earlier, affected oxygen concentrations in the ETSP. Furthermore, the δ15N records imply ongoing physical communication across the equator in the shallow subsurface continuously over the last 50-70 ka.

Characteristic of metallic state preperties of mendelevium and other actinoids by thermochcomatography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hubener, S.; Zvara, I.

1982-01-01

The adsorption of the heavy actinoids Cf, Es, Fm, and Md on polycrystalline titanium and molybdenum has been studied by thermochromatography in comparison with several well-known metallic elements, in trace amounts. The data lead us to suggest that Es, Fm, and Md are divalent in the metallic state and, moreover, that the position of their f energy levels relativg to the Fermi-energy is lower than in the cases of Cf and Yb. A correlation was found between the experimental enthalpies of adsorption of the heavy actinoids and their predicted enthalpies of sublimation

Dielectrophoretic separation of gaseous isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConnell, D.B.

1976-01-01

This invention relates to a process for the separation of gaseous isotopes by electrophoresis assisted by convective countercurrent flow and to an apparatus for use in the process. The invention is especially applicable to heavy water separation from steam; however, it is to be understood that the invention is broadly applicable to the separation of gaseous isotopes having different dipole moments and/or different molecular weights. (author)

Isotopically (δ13C and δ18O) heavy volcanic plumes from Central Andean volcanoes: a field study

Science.gov (United States)

Schipper, C. Ian; Moussallam, Yves; Curtis, Aaron; Peters, Nial; Barnie, Talfan; Bani, Philipson; Jost, H. J.; Hamilton, Doug; Aiuppa, Alessandro; Tamburello, Giancarlo; Giudice, Gaetano

2017-08-01

Stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in volcanic gases are key tracers of volatile transfer between Earth's interior and atmosphere. Although important, these data are available for few volcanoes because they have traditionally been difficult to obtain and are usually measured on gas samples collected from fumaroles. We present new field measurements of bulk plume composition and stable isotopes (δ13CCO2 and δ18OH2O+CO2) carried out at three northern Chilean volcanoes using MultiGAS and isotope ratio infrared spectroscopy. Carbon and oxygen in magmatic gas plumes of Lastarria and Isluga volcanoes have δ13C in CO2 of +0.76‰ to +0.77‰ (VPDB), similar to slab carbonate; and δ18O in the H2O + CO2 system ranging from +12.2‰ to +20.7‰ (VSMOW), suggesting significant contributions from altered slab pore water and carbonate. The hydrothermal plume at Tacora has lower δ13CCO2 of -3.2‰ and δ18OH2O+CO2 of +7.0‰, reflecting various scrubbing, kinetic fractionation, and contamination processes. We show the isotopic characterization of volcanic gases in the field to be a practical complement to traditional sampling methods, with the potential to remove sampling bias that is a risk when only a few samples from accessible fumaroles are used to characterize a given volcano's volatile output. Our results indicate that there is a previously unrecognized, relatively heavy isotopic signature to bulk volcanic gas plumes in the Central Andes, which can be attributed to a strong influence from components of the subducting slab, but may also reflect some local crustal contamination. The techniques we describe open new avenues for quantifying the roles that subduction zones and arc volcanoes play in the global carbon cycle.

Heavy ion reactions at high energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakobsson, Bo.

1977-01-01

A review on heavy ion experiments at energies >0.1GeV/nucleon is presented. Reaction cross-sections, isotope production cross-sections and pion production in nucleus-nucleus collisions are discussed. Some recent models for heavy ion reactions like the abrasion-ablation model, the fireball model and the different shock-wave models are also presented

Modern rather than Mesoarchaean oxidative weathering responsible for the heavy stable Cr isotopic signatures of the 2.95 Ga old Ijzermijn iron formation (South Africa)

Science.gov (United States)

Albut, Gülüm; Babechuk, Michael G.; Kleinhanns, Ilka C.; Benger, Manuela; Beukes, Nicolas J.; Steinhilber, Bernd; Smith, Albertus J. B.; Kruger, Stephanus J.; Schoenberg, Ronny

2018-05-01

Previously reported stable Cr isotopic fractionation in Archaean paleosols and iron formations (IFs) have been interpreted as a signature of oxidative weathering of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) in soils, and delivery of isotopically heavy Cr(VI) into the oceans. One of the oldest reported fingerprints of this process is isotopically heavy Cr preserved in the 2.95 Ga old Ijzermijn IF, Sinqeni Formation of the Mozaan Group (Pongola Supergroup), South Africa and could suggest that atmospheric free oxygen was present ca. 600 million years earlier than the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). However, fractionated stable Cr isotopic signatures have only been found to date in surface outcrop samples of the White Mfolozi Inlier exposed along the White Mfolozi River Gorge. In this study, the latter outcrop was resampled along with two drill cores of the Ijzermijn IF and a drill core of the Scotts Hill IF to represent multiple exposures of Mozaan Group IFs with different states of preservation. A detailed geochemical comparison on bulk samples of different units was undertaken using stable Cr isotopes coupled with trace and major elements. Outcrop iron-rich mudstones (Fe - lutites) show very low LOI [wt] %, and very low Fe(II)/Fetot ratios, and lower Ca and Mg relative to equivalent facies in drill cores, indicating the effects that oxidative recent surface weathering had on Fe/Mn-rich carbonate minerals of the IF. Overall rare earth element and yttrium (REE + Y) mixing models agree well with previous studies, confirming that they were minimally disturbed by weathering and are consistent with a high magnitude of continental solutes delivered in a near-shore depositional environment, with a minor contribution of hydrothermally derived fluids that upwelled into shallower depositional setting. Importantly, all drill core samples of this study revealed δ53/52Cr values within the igneous inventory, despite variable amounts of detrital Cr input that includes nearly detritus-free, chert

Isotopic anomalies - chemical memory of Galactic evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clayton, D.D.

1988-01-01

New mechanisms for the chemical memory of isotopic anomalies are proposed which are based on the temporal change during the chemical evolution of the Galaxy of the isotopic composition of the mean ejecta from stars. Because of the differing temporal evolution of primary and secondary products of nucleosynthesis, the isotopic composition of the bulk interstellar medium changes approximately linearly with time, and thus any dust component having an age different from that of average dust will be isotopically anomalous. Special attention is given to C, O, Mg, Si, and isotopically heavy average-stellar condensates of SiC. 20 references

Calcium hydroxide isotope effect in calcium isotope enrichment by ion exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jepson, B.E.; Shockey, G.C.

1984-01-01

The enrichment of calcium isotopes has been observed in ion-exchange chromatography with an aqueous phase of calcium hydroxide and a solid phase of sulfonic acid resin. The band front was exceedingly sharp as a result of the acid-base reaction occuring at the front of the band. Single-stage separation coefficients were found to be epsilon( 44 Ca/ 40 Ca) = 11 x 10 -4 and epsilon( 48 Ca/ 40 Ca) = 18 x 10 -4 . The maximum column separation factors achieved were 1.05 for calcium-44 and 1.09 for calcium-48 with the heavy isotopes enriching in the fluid phase. The calcium isotope effect between fully hydrated aqueous calcium ions and undissociated aqueous calcium hydroxide was estimated. For the calcium-44/40 isotope pair the separation coefficient was 13 x 10 -4 . 20 references, 2 figures

Tritium concentration in the heavy water upgrading plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Croitoru, C.; Pop, F.; Titescu, Gh.; Dumitrescu, M.; Ciortea, C.; Stefanescu, I.; Peculea, M.; Pitigoi, Gh.; Trancota, D. . E-mail of corresponding author: croitoru@icsi.ro; Croitoru, C.)

2005-01-01

In the course of time heavy water used in CANDU nuclear power plants, as moderator or coolant, degrades, as a result of its impurification with light water and tritium. Concentration diminution below 99.8% mol for moderator and 99.75% mol for coolant causes an inefficient functioning of CANDU reactor. By isotopic distillation, light water is removed. Simultaneously tritium concentration takes place. The heavy water upgrading plant from Cernavoda is an isotopic separation cascade with two stages. The paper presents, for this plant, a theoretical study of the tritium concentration. (author)

Chromium stable isotope fractionation in modern biogeochemical cycling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paulukat, Cora Stefanie

oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. Oxidative rock weathering on land induces oxidation of immobile Cr(III) to mobile Cr(VI). Isotopically relatively heavy Cr(VI) is released to runoff, and transported by rivers to the oceans, where it is incorporated into chemical sediments and carbonate shells...... laterite soils from India, formed on ultramafic rocks, indicates extensive leaching of isotopically heavy Cr(VI). Transferring this knowledge to ancient weathering profiles, negatively fractionated Cr is clear evidence for the presence of free oxygen in the atmosphere. The second part demonstrates...

Heavy Water - Industrial Separation Processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peculea, M.

1984-01-01

This monograph devoted to the heavy water production mainly presents the Romanian experience in the field which started in early sixties from the laboratory scale production and reached now the level of large scale industrial production at ROMAG-Drobeta, Romania. The book is structured in eleven chapters entitled: Overview, The main physical properties, Sources, Uses, Separation factor and equilibrium constant, Mathematical modelling of the separation process, Thermodynamical considerations on the isotope separation, Selection criteria for heavy water separation processes, Industrial installations for heavy water production, Prospects, Acknowledgements. 200 Figs., 90 Tabs., 135 Refs

On the basic substances used in the separation process by isotope exchange H2S - H2O, at two temperatures, in view of producing heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popescu, V.

1977-01-01

In view of producing heavy water, the influence of the deuterium proportion in the basic substances, on the efficiency of the isotope exchange process H 2 S - H 2 O for two temperatures was studied. Heavy water is extracted from ordinary water and concentrated from 0.014 per cent to 5-15 per cent D 2 O by isotope bithermal exchange with the hydrogen sulphite. Theoretical and experimental research was carried out in laboratories and then applied on a pilot plant by designing and testing a drying equipment for hydrogen sulphite. The maximum H 2 S concentration rose to 99.84 per cent. The purity of the hydrogen sulphite resulting from the pilot plant, as well as the optimization of the installation for producing H 2 S depending on the deuterium distribution, make sure that the two methods for the preparation of sodium sulphite and hydrogen sulphite can be applied in industry. (author)

Determination of fission gas yields from isotope ratios

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mogensen, Mogens Bjerg

1983-01-01

This paper describes a method of calculating the actual fission yield of Kr and Xe in nuclear fuel including the effect of neutron capture reactions and decay. The bases for this calculation are the cumulative yields (ref. 1) of Kr and Xe isotopes (or pairs of isotopes) which are unaffected...... by neutron capture reactions, and measured Kr and Xe isotope ratios. Also the burnup contribution from the different fissile heavy isotopes must be known in order to get accurate fission gas yields....

Recent research on the heavy transuranium elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seaborg, G.T.

1988-09-01

This review is devoted to recent research (performed in the 1980s) on the heavy members of the group, defined as the transcurium elements (with a few references to related work on lighter elements). It covers the discovery of the three heaviest elements, the discovery of new isotopes, investigation of interesting decay properties of some previously known isotopes, investigations of some heavy ion reaction mechanisms in this region, and recent investigations of nuclear and chemical properties. It is not exhaustive in its coverage, is necessarily succinct, and inevitably places emphasis on those aspects with which the author is most familiar. 92 refs., 3 figs

Electro-magnetic properties of heavy nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otsuka, Takaharu

1989-01-01

Two topics of electro-magnetic properties of heavy nuclei are discussed. The first topic is the M1 excitation from well-deformed heavy nuclei, and the other is the sudden increase of the isotope shift as a function of N in going away from the closed shell. These problems are considered in terms of the particle-number projected (Nilsson-) BCS calculation. (author)

Collinear laser spectroscopy on In isotopes from heavy ion fusion reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ulm, G.

1984-07-01

Indium isotopes 107-111 were produced by 16 O-fusion reactions and investigated in a collinear laser geometry. The hyperfine structure and isotopic shifts are measured and the deduced magnetic dipole moments are in agreement with shell model calculations. The nuclear charge radii are determined from the isotopic shifts. (WL)

Variability of Fe isotope compositions of hydrothermal sulfides and oxidation products at mid-ocean ridges

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaohu; Wang, Jianqiang; Chu, Fengyou; Wang, Hao; Li, Zhenggang; Yu, Xing; Bi, Dongwei; He, Yongsheng

2018-04-01

Significant Fe isotopic fractionation occurs during the precipitation and oxidative weathering of modern seafloor hydrothermal sulfides, which has an important impact on the cycling of Fe isotopes in the ocean. This study reports the Fe-isotope compositions of whole-rock sulfides and single-mineral pyrite collected from hydrothermal fields at the South Mid-Atlantic Ridge (SMAR) and the East Pacific Rise (EPR) and discusses the impacts of precipitation and late-stage oxidative weathering of sulfide minerals on Fe isotopic fractionation. The results show large variation in the Fe-isotope compositions of the sulfides from the different hydrothermal fields on the mid-oceanic ridges, indicating that relatively significant isotope fractionation occurs during the sulfide precipitation and oxidative weathering processes. The Fe-isotope compositions of the sulfides from the study area at the SMAR vary across a relatively small range, with an average value of 0.01‰. This Fe-isotope composition is similar to the Fe-isotope composition of mid-oceanic ridge basalt, which suggests that Fe was mainly leached from basalt. In contrast, the Fe-isotope composition of the sulfides from the study area at the EPR are significantly enriched in light Fe isotopes (average value - 1.63‰), mainly due to the kinetic fractionation during the rapid precipitation process of hydrothermal sulfide. In addition, the pyrite from different hydrothermal fields is enriched in light Fe isotopes, which is consistent with the phenomenon in which light Fe isotopes are preferentially enriched during the precipitation of pyrite. The red oxides have the heaviest Fe-isotope compositions (up to 0.80‰), indicating that heavy Fe isotopes are preferentially enriched in the oxidation product during the late-stage oxidation process. The data obtained from this study and previous studies show a significant difference between the Fe-isotope compositions of the sulfides from the SMAR and EPR. The relatively heavy

Isotopic discontinuities in ground water beneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stuckless, J.S.; Whelan, J.F.; Steinkampf, W.C.

1991-01-01

Analytical data for stable isotopes in ground water from beneath Yucca Mountain, when examined in map view, show areal patterns of heterogeneity that can be interpreted in terms of mixing of at least three end members. One end member must be isotopically heavy in terms of hydrogen and oxygen and have a young apparent 14 C age such as water found at the north end of Yucca Mountain beneath Fortymile Wash. A second end member must contain isotopically heavy carbon and have an old apparent 14 C age such as water from the Paleozoic aquifer. The third end member cannot be tightly defined. It must be isotopically lighter than the first with respect of hydrogen and oxygen and be intermediate to the first and second end members with respect to both apparent 14 C age and δ 13 C. The variable isotopic compositions of hydrogen and oxygen indicate that two of the end members are waters, but the variable carbon isotopic composition could represent either a third water end member or reaction of water with a carbon-bearing solids such as calcite. 15 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

Development of stable isotope manufacturing in Russia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pokidychev, A.; Pokidycheva, M.

1999-01-01

For the past 25 years, Russia has relied heavily on the electromagnetic separation process for the production of middle and heavy mass stable isotopes. The separation of most light isotopes had been centered in Georgia which, after the collapse of the USSR, left Russia without this capability. In the mid-1970s, development of centrifuge technology for the separation of stable isotopes was begun. Alternative techniques such as laser separation, physical-chemical methods, and ion cyclotron resonance have also been investigated. Economic considerations have played a major role in the development and current status of the stable isotope enrichment capabilities of Russia

Fuel reprocessing data validation using the isotope correlation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Persiani, P.J.; Bucher, R.G.; Pond, R.B.; Cornella, R.J.

1990-01-01

The Isotope Correlation Technique (ICT), in conjunction with the gravimetric (Pu/U ratio) method for mass determination, provides an independent verification of the input accountancy at the dissolver or accountancy stage of the reprocessing plant. The Isotope Correlation Technique has been applied to many classes of domestic and international reactor systems (light-water, heavy-water, and graphite reactors) operating in a variety of modes (power, research, and production reactors), and for a variety of reprocessing fuel cycle management strategies. Analysis of reprocessing operations data based on isotopic correlations derived for assemblies in a PWR environment and fuel management scheme, yielded differences between the measurement-derived and ICT-derived plutonium mass determinations of (- 0.02 ± 0.23)% for the measured U-235 and (+ 0.50 ± 0.31)% for the measured Pu-239, for a core campaign. The ICT analyses has been implemented for the plutonium isotopics in a depleted uranium assembly in a heavy-water, enriched uranium system and for the uranium isotopes in the fuel assemblies in light-water, highly-enriched systems

Tin isotope fractionation during magmatic processes and the isotope composition of the bulk silicate Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xueying; Amet, Quentin; Fitoussi, Caroline; Bourdon, Bernard

2018-05-01

Tin is a moderately volatile element whose isotope composition can be used to investigate Earth and planet differentiation and the early history of the Solar System. Although the Sn stable isotope composition of several geological and archaeological samples has been reported, there is currently scarce information about the effect of igneous processes on Sn isotopes. In this study, high-precision Sn isotope measurements of peridotites and basalts were obtained by MC-ICP-MS with a double-spike technique. The basalt samples display small variations in δ124/116Sn ranging from -0.01 ± 0.11 to 0.27 ± 0.11‰ (2 s.d.) relative to NIST SRM 3161a standard solution, while peridotites have more dispersed and more negative δ124Sn values ranging from -1.04 ± 0.11 to -0.07 ± 0.11‰ (2 s.d.). Overall, basalts are enriched in heavy Sn isotopes relative to peridotites. In addition, δ124Sn in peridotites become more negative with increasing degrees of melt depletion. These results can be explained by different partitioning behavior of Sn4+ and Sn2+ during partial melting. Sn4+ is overall more incompatible than Sn2+ during partial melting, resulting in Sn4+-rich silicate melt and Sn2+-rich residue. As Sn4+ has been shown experimentally to be enriched in heavy isotopes relative to Sn2+, the effect of melting is to enrich residual peridotites in relatively more compatible Sn2+, which results in isotopically lighter peridotites and isotopically heavier mantle-derived melts. This picture can be disturbed partly by the effect of refertilization. Similarly, the presence of enriched components such as recycled oceanic crust or sediments could explain part of the variations in Sn isotopes in oceanic basalts. The most primitive peridotite analyzed in this study was used for estimating the Sn isotope composition of the BSE, with δ124Sn = -0.08 ± 0.11‰ (2 s.d.) relative to the Sn NIST SRM 3161a standard solution. Altogether, this suggests that Sn isotopes may be a powerful probe of

Process for the extraction of tritium from heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dombra, A.H.

1984-01-01

The object of the invention is achieved by a process for the extraction of tritium from a liquid heavy water stream comprising: contacting the heavy water with a countercurrent gaseous deuterium stream in a column packed with a water-repellent catalyst such that tritium is transferred by isotopic exchange from the liquid heavy water stream to the gaseous deuterium stream

Finishing and upgrading of heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Butler, J.P.; Hammerli, M.

1981-01-01

This invention provides a process and apparatus for deuterium enrichment as a final stage in a heavy water plant, for continuous on-line enrichment of the heavy water in moderator and heat transfer systems in heavy water nuclear reactors, and for enrichment of hevy water that has been downgraded with natural water during the course of operating a heavy water nuclear reactor. The method comprises contacting partially-enriched heavy water feed in a catalyst column with hydrogen gas (essentially D 2 ) orginating in an electrolysis cell so as to enrich the feed water with deuterium extracted from the electrolytic hydrogen gas and passing the deuterium-enriched water to the electrolysis cell. The apparatus comprises a catalyst isotope exchange column with hydrogen gas and liquid water passing through in countercurrent isotope exchange, an electrolysis cell, a dehumidifer-scrubber; and means for passing the liquid water enriched in deuterium from the catalyst column through the dehumidifer-scrubber to the electrolysis cell, for passing the hydrogen gas evolved in the cathode side of the cell through the dehumidifier-scrubber to the catalyst column, for passing the hydrogen gas from the catalyst column to an output, for introducing an input water feed to the upper portion of the catalyst column, and for taking a product enriched in deuterium from the system. (LL)

18O isotopic characterisation of non-point source contributed heavy metals (Zn and Cu) contamination of groundwater

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Datta, P.S.; Manjaiah, K.M.; Tyagi, S.K.

1999-01-01

In many urbanised areas, fast depletion and severe degradation of the of groundwater resource with contaminants such as nitrate, fluoride, and heavy metals is a common phenomenon, resulting in zonal disparity in fresh water availability. Therefore, for protection of groundwater from pollution and depletion, it is a matter of concern for the planners and decision makers to clearly characterise the sources of contamination and to search for an alternative approach for groundwater development and management. In this context, a new approach is presented here, based on monitoring of 18 O stable isotopic and heavy metals composition of groundwater, to clearly characterise non-point source contributed heavy metals pollution of groundwater in northern parts of Delhi area. In the investigated area, the Cu content in the groundwater ranges from 3-41 μg/l and Zn content ranges from 5-182 μg/l, showing considerable variation from location to location as well as within the small parts of a location. Wide variation in the 18 O stable isotope content of groundwater (δ value of -5.7 per mille to -8.5 per mille) is due to significant variation in the δ 18 O-contents of rainfall with space and time, as well as intensity and distribution of rainfall. Enrichment in 18 O composition with increasing Cu and Zn levels in groundwater suggest that infiltration of rain water, irrigation water and surface run-off water from the surrounding farm lands, along with agrochemicals and other salts present in the soil, to be the main processes causing groundwater contamination. The concentration of Cu and Zn in groundwater vary spatially, due to different degrees of evaporation/recharge, amounts of fertiliser applied and wastes disposed, adsorption/dispersion of species in the soils and lateral mixing of groundwater. Two opposite mechanisms adsorption and redistribution of infiltrating water along with Zn and Cu species in the soil zone are likely to affect the movement of the Zn and Cu species

The origin of volatile element depletion in early solar system material: Clues from Zn isotopes in chondrules

Science.gov (United States)

Pringle, Emily A.; Moynier, Frédéric; Beck, Pierre; Paniello, Randal; Hezel, Dominik C.

2017-06-01

Volatile lithophile elements are depleted in the different planetary materials to various degrees, but the origin of these depletions is still debated. Stable isotopes of moderately volatile elements such as Zn can be used to understand the origin of volatile element depletions. Samples with significant volatile element depletions, including the Moon and terrestrial tektites, display heavy Zn isotope compositions (i.e. enrichment of 66Zn vs. 64Zn), consistent with kinetic Zn isotope fractionation during evaporation. However, Luck et al. (2005) found a negative correlation between δ66Zn and 1/[Zn] between CI, CM, CO, and CV chondrites, opposite to what would be expected if evaporation caused the Zn abundance variations among chondrite groups. We have analyzed the Zn isotope composition of multiple samples of the major carbonaceous chondrite classes: CI (1), CM (4), CV (2), CO (4), CB (2), CH (2), CK (4), and CK/CR (1). The bulk chondrites define a negative correlation in a plot of δ66Zn vs 1/[Zn], confirming earlier results that Zn abundance variations among carbonaceous chondrites cannot be explained by evaporation. Exceptions are CB and CH chondrites, which display Zn systematics consistent with a collisional formation mechanism that created enrichment in heavy Zn isotopes relative to the trend defined by CI-CK. We further report Zn isotope analyses of chondrite components, including chondrules from Allende (CV3) and Mokoia (CV3), as well as an aliquot of Allende matrix. All chondrules are enriched in light Zn isotopes (∼500 ppm on 66Zn/64Zn) relative to the bulk, contrary to what would be expected if Zn were depleted during evaporation, on the other hand the matrix has a complementary heavy isotope composition. We report sequential leaching experiments in un-equilibrated ordinary chondrites, which show sulfides are isotopically heavy compared to silicates and the bulk meteorite by ca. +0.65 per mil on 66Zn/64Zn. We suggest isotopically heavy sulfides were

The centenary of the discovery of isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soulie, Edgar

2013-01-01

This article recalls works performed by different scientists (Marckwald and Keetman, Stromholm and Svedberg, Soddy, Thompson, Aston) which resulted in the observation and identification of the existence of isotopes. The author also recalls various works related to mechanisms of production of isotopes, the discovery of uranium fission and the principle of chain reaction. The author notably evokes French scientists involved in the development of mass spectroscopy and in the research and applications on isotopes within the CEA after the Second World War. A bibliography of article and books published by one of them, Etienne Roth, is provided. References deal with nuclear applications of chemical engineering (heavy water and its production, chemical processes in fission reactors, tritium extraction and enrichment), isotopic fractioning and physical-chemical processes, mass spectrometry and isotopic analysis, isotopic geochemistry (on 07;Earth, search for deuterium in moon rocks and their consequences), first dating and the Oklo phenomenon, radioactive dating, water and climate (isotopic hydrology, isotopes and hailstone formation, the atmosphere), and miscellaneous scientific fields (nuclear measurements and radioactivity, isotopic abundances and atomic weight, isotopic separation and use of steady isotopes)

Study of neutron-deficient Sn isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auger, G.

1982-05-01

The formation of neutron deficient nuclei by heavy ion reactions is investigated. The experimental technique is presented, and the results obtained concerning Sn et In isotopes reported: first excited states of 106 Sn, high spin states in 107 Sn and 107 In; Yrast levels of 106 Sn, 107 Sn, 108 Sn; study of neutron deficient Sn and In isotopes formed by the desintegration of the compound nucleus 112 Xe. All these results are discussed [fr

Utilization of stable isotopes for characterizing an underground gas generator; Utilisation des isotopes stables pour caracteriser un gazogene souterrain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pirard, J P; Antenucci, D; Renard, X [Liege Univ. (Belgium); Letolle, R [Paris-6 Univ., 75 (France)

1994-12-31

The principles of isotopic exchange and isotope ratio result interpretation are first reviewed; then, in the framework of an underground coal gasification project in Belgium, experiments and modelling of the underground gas generator have been carried out: isotopic abundances of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen have been measured in the gasifying agent (O{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O) and in the effluent (CO{sub 2}, CO, H{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O, CH{sub 4}, O{sub 2}, heavy oils and various organic and mineral substances). Gasification kinetics and temperatures have been evaluated and isotope application to thermometry is discussed. 1 fig., 9 refs.

Multi-element isotope dilution analyses using ICP-MS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volpe, A.M.

1996-01-01

Presently, 37 elements ranging from light (Li,B) through transition metals, noble, rare earth and heavy elements, to actinides and transuranics (Pu, Am, Cm) are measured by isotope dilution at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Projects range from geological and hydrological to biological. The research goal is to measure accurately many elements present in diverse matrices at trace (ppb) levels using isotope dilution methods. Major advantages of isotope dilution methods are accuracy, elimination of ion intensity calibration, and quantitation for samples that require chemical separation. Accuracy depends on tracer isotope calibration, tracer-sample isotopic equilibration, and appropriate background, isobaric and mass bias corrections. Propagation of isotope ratio error due to improper tracer isotope addition is a major concern with multi-element analyses when abundances vary widely. 11 refs., 3 figs

Safety system in a heavy water detritiation plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balteanu, O.; Stefan, I.; Retevoi, C.

2003-01-01

In a CANDU 6 type reactor a quantity of 55·10 15 Bq/year of tritium is generated, 95% being in the D 2 O moderator which can achieve a radioactivity of 2.5-3.5·10 12 Bq/kg. Tritium in heavy water contributes with 30-50% to the doses received by operation personnel and up to 20% to the radioactivity released in the environment. The large quantity of heavy water used in this type of reactors (500 tones) make storage very difficult, especially for environment. The extraction of tritium from tritiated heavy water of CANDU reactors solve the following problems: the radiation level in the operation area, the costs of maintenance and repair reduction due to reduction of personnel protection measures, the increase of NPP utilisation factor by shutdown time reduction for maintenance and repair, use the extracted tritium for fusion reactors and not for the last, lower costs and risk for storage heavy water waste. Heavy water detritiation methods, which currently are used in the industrial or experimental plant, are based on catalytic isotope exchange or electrolysis followed cryogenic distillation or permeation. The technology developed at Institute of Cryogenics and Isotope Separation is based upon catalytic exchange between tritiated water and deuterium, followed by cryogenic distillation of hydrogen isotopes. The nature of the fluids that are processed in detritiation requires the operation of the plant in safety conditions. The paper presents the safety system solution chose in order to solve this task, as well as a simulation of an incident and safety system response. The application software is using LabView platform that is specialised on control and factory automation applications. (author)

Experimental study of hydrogen isotopes storage on titanium bed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasut, Felicia; Zamfirache, Marius; Bornea, Anisia; Pearsica, Claudia; Bidica, Nicolae

2002-01-01

As known, the Nuclear Power Plant Cernavoda equipped with a Canadian reactor, of CANDU type, is the most powerful tritium source from Europe. On long term, due to a 6·10 16 Bq/year, Cernavoda area will be contaminated due to the increasing tritium quantity. Also, the continuous contamination of heavy water from the reactor, induces a reduction of moderation's capacity. Therefore, one considers that it is improperly to use heavy water if its activity level is higher than 40 Ci/kg in the moderator and 2 Ci/kg in the cooling fluid. For these reasons, we have developed a detritiation technology, based on catalytic isotopic exchange and cryogenic distillation. Tritium will be removed from the tritiated heavy water, so it appears the necessity of storage of tritium in a special vessel that can provide a high level of protection and safety of environment and personal. There several metals were tested as storage beds for hydrogen isotopes. One of the reference materials used for storage of hydrogen isotopes is uranium, a material with a great storage capacity, but unfortunately it is a radioactive metal and also can react with the impurities from the stored gas. Other metals and alloys as ZrCo, Ti, FeTi are also adequate as storage beds at normal temperature. The paper presents studies about the reaction between hydrogen and titanium used as storage bed for the hydrogen isotopes resulted after the detritiation of tritiated heavy water. The experiments that were carried out used protium and mixture of deuterium and protium at different storage parameters as process gas. (authors)

Multiple stable isotope fronts during non-isothermal fluid flow

Science.gov (United States)

Fekete, Szandra; Weis, Philipp; Scott, Samuel; Driesner, Thomas

2018-02-01

Stable isotope signatures of oxygen, hydrogen and other elements in minerals from hydrothermal veins and metasomatized host rocks are widely used to investigate fluid sources and paths. Previous theoretical studies mostly focused on analyzing stable isotope fronts developing during single-phase, isothermal fluid flow. In this study, numerical simulations were performed to assess how temperature changes, transport phenomena, kinetic vs. equilibrium isotope exchange, and isotopic source signals determine mineral oxygen isotopic compositions during fluid-rock interaction. The simulations focus on one-dimensional scenarios, with non-isothermal single- and two-phase fluid flow, and include the effects of quartz precipitation and dissolution. If isotope exchange between fluid and mineral is fast, a previously unrecognized, significant enrichment in heavy oxygen isotopes of fluids and minerals occurs at the thermal front. The maximum enrichment depends on the initial isotopic composition of fluid and mineral, the fluid-rock ratio and the maximum change in temperature, but is independent of the isotopic composition of the incoming fluid. This thermally induced isotope front propagates faster than the signal related to the initial isotopic composition of the incoming fluid, which forms a trailing front behind the zone of transient heavy oxygen isotope enrichment. Temperature-dependent kinetic rates of isotope exchange between fluid and rock strongly influence the degree of enrichment at the thermal front. In systems where initial isotope values of fluids and rocks are far from equilibrium and isotope fractionation is controlled by kinetics, the temperature increase accelerates the approach of the fluid to equilibrium conditions with the host rock. Consequently, the increase at the thermal front can be less dominant and can even generate fluid values below the initial isotopic composition of the input fluid. As kinetics limit the degree of isotope exchange, a third front may

Isotopic composition of groundwater in semi-arid regions of Southern Africa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogel, J.C.; Urk, H. van

1975-01-01

Although the isotope content of precipitation in the semi-arid regions of southern Africa is extremely variable, groundwater samples from the same district are found to have a remarkably constant isotopic composition. The oxygen-18 content of the underground water, in general, varies by about 0.5% in a given area. The differences that occur between different regions are sufficiently large to allow the groundwater of an area to be characterized by means of its oxygen-18 content. In order to localize the infiltration area of an aquifer, radiocarbon dating of the water is used. It appears that the groundwater contains, in general, less of the heavy isotopes than does the precipitation in the recharge area. This indicates that infiltration only takes place during periods of heavy rainfall. Examples are given where the isotope content of the groundwater is used to distinguish between different aquifers in the same region

Isotopically labelled vitamin D derivatives and processes for preparing same

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deluca, H.R.; Schnoes, H.K.; Napoli, J.L.; Fivizzani, M.A.

1981-01-01

This invention relates to 26,27-isotopically labelled vitamin D 3 compounds, including radiolabelled vitamin D 3 compounds of high specific activity, methods for their preparation, and intermediates obtained in their synthesis. The method involves reacting an ester of a 26,27-dinor-vitamin D-25-carboxylic acid with an isotopically labelled methyl Grignard reagent or methyl lithium reagent to obtain a 26,27-isotopically labelled compound in which at least some of the H atoms and/or C atoms are heavy isotopes. (author)

Chromatographic hydrogen isotope separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aldridge, F.T.

1983-01-01

Intermetallic compounds with the CaCu5 type of crystal structure, particularly LaNiCo and CaNi5, exhibit high separation factors and fast equilibrium times and therefore are useful for packing a chromatographic hydrogen isotope separation column. The addition of an inert metal to dilute the hydride improves performance of the column. A large scale multi-stage chromatographic separation process run as a secondary process off a hydrogen feedstream from an industrial plant which uses large volumes of hydrogen can produce large quantities of heavy water at an effective cost for use in heavy water reactors

Chromatographic hydrogen isotope separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aldridge, F.T.

1981-01-01

Intermetallic compounds with the CaCu5 type of crystal structure , particularly LaNiCo and CaNi5, exhibit high separation factors and fast equilibrium times and therefore are useful for packing a chromatographic hydrogen isotope separation colum. The addition of an inert metal to dilute the hydride improves performance of the column. A large scale mutli-stage chromatographic separation process run as a secondary process off a hydrogen feedstream from an industrial plant which uses large volumes of hydrogen can produce large quantities of heavy water at an effective cost for use in heavy water reactors

Isotopic studies of Yucca Mountain soil fluids and carbonate pedogenesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConnaughey, T.A.; Whelan, J.F.; Wickland, K.P.; Moscati, R.J.

1994-01-01

Secondary carbonates occurring within the soils, faults, and subsurface fractures of Yucca Mountain contain some of the best available records of paleoclimate and palehydrology for the potential radioactive waste repository site. This article discusses conceptual and analytical advances being made with regard to the interpretation of stable isotope data from pedogenic carbonates, specifically related to the 13 C content of soil CO 2 , CaCO 3 , precipitation mechanisms, and isotopic fractionations between parent fluids and precipitating carbonates. The 13 C content of soil carbon dioxide from Yucca Mountain and vicinity shows most of the usual patterns expected in such contexts: Decreasing 13 C content with depth decreasing 13 C with altitude and reduced 13 C during spring. These patterns exist within the domain of a noisy data set; soil and vegetational heterogeneities, weather, and other factors apparently contribute to isotopic variability in the system. Several soil calcification mechanisms appear to be important, involving characteristic physical and chemical environments and isotopic fractionations. When CO 2 loss from thin soil solutions is an important driving factor, carbonates may contain excess heavy isotopes, compared to equilibrium precipitation with soil fluids. When root calcification serves as a proton generator for plant absorption of soil nutrients, heavy isotope deficiencies are likely. Successive cycles of dissolution and reprecipitation mix and redistribute pedogenic carbonates, and tend to isotopically homogenize and equilibrate pedogenic carbonates with soil fluids

Applications of heavy-ion reactions on hydrogen isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evers, E.J.

1987-01-01

This thesis describes various aspects of 'inverse' reactions between the lightest nuclides, hydrogen and deuterium, and heavy ions in the range from carbon to phosphorus. The reactions studied in this thesis always result in one light ejectile and one excited heavy nucleus. Coincidence experiments have been performed in which both the emitted light particle and the gamma radiation emitted by the excited heavy nucleus produced, are detected. Ch. 1 describes the system built for the acquisition of data obtained in such coincidence experiments. Ch. 2 describes precision measurements of nuclear lifetimes and stopping powers. Coincident Doppler shift attenuation (DSA) experiments were performed with the reaction 2 H( 31 P,pγ) 32 P at E( 31 P 7+ )=50 MeV and thin Ti 2 H targets on Au, Ag and Cu backings. Mean lifetimes of the E x =513, 1150, 1323 and 1755 levels were determined with experimental stopping powers of Forster et al. These lifetimes were used as input in further analysis of the experimental data and of an additional experiment with a target on Mg backing to determine a consistent set of stopping power data for P ions with a velocity in the range 0-8(c/137) in the four materials mentioned. Ch.'s 3 and 4 deal with narrow resonances in reactions of nitrogen and fluorine beams with hydrogen targets. In Ch. 3 a method is described for the calibration of analyzing-magnet systems of heavy-ions accelerators. Ch. 4 describes an experiment to investigate the hydrogen concentration in silicon nitride films using a resonant inverse nuclear reaction. This method turns out to be a very suitable one for determining hydrogen concentration profiles with a good depth resolution over a large depth. 69 refs.; 23 figs.; 7 tabs

Isotopic-tracer-aided studies on undesirable effects of heavy metals in the soil-plant system. Part of a coordinated programme on isotopic-tracer-aided studies of agrochemical residue - soil biota interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oberlaender, H.E.

1982-07-01

Uptake of isotopically labelled mercury (Hg-203), cadmium (Cd-115m) and zinc (Zn-65) from a calcareous chernozem and a podzolized brown earth by spring and winter varieties of wheat, rye and barley was investigated in pot experiments carried out until maturity of the plants. The labelled heavy metals, applied at concentrations innocuous to plant growth (0.5 ppm Hg or Cd, 50 ppm Zn) were determined radiometrically in the straw and in the grains of the harvested plants, as well as in the milling products (bran, semolina and flour) obtained by standard procedures of grain processing. Uptake of mercury was several hundred times smaller than the uptake of cadmium, if both metals were applied to the soil in equal amounts. Whereas the uptake of mercury from the acid soil was insignificant or not detectable, cadmium was taken up from this soil at a much higher rate than from the alkaline soil. Thus, not mercury, but cadmium imposes the greatest hazard on the food chain. Winter varieties of cereals took up more mercury and cadmium than did spring varieties. The content of heavy metals in the plants decreased considerably when plants approached maturity. During translocation through the plants the metals were gradually retained when passing from the stalks (''straw'') into the grains, and from the seed-cover (''bran'') into the endosperm (''flour''). The heavy metal contents of the grain fractions decreased in the order: bran > semolina > flour. Concentrations of heavy metals in flour were 3-8 times smaller than in straw, showing that flour is least affected by heavy metal pollution of cereals via the soil. The metal content of the various flour types was correlated with their percentage of bran and with their ash content. By adding an ion-exchanger to the soil the pattern of relative distribution of heavy metals in mature plants was not changed, but the cadmium content of all cereal products was considerably lowered

Some new approaches to the synthesis of heavy and superheavy elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flerov, G.N.

1980-01-01

The results of work on the synthesis of heavy and superheavy elements are considered. It is shown that the new regularity of the systematics of spontaneous-fission half-lives, established for heavy nuclei at Dubna, has made it possible to extend the region of the nuclei being synthesized. In particular, it becomes possible to produce relatively long-lived heavy isotopes of Z>=107. The results of experiments to study the emission of energetic α-particles in the collision of heavy nuclei are presented. It is noted that such reactions can be used to produce atomic nuclei with low excitation energy and large angular momentum. The possible use of similar reactions in the synthesis of heavy and superheavy elements is discussed. In case the existence of a naturally occurring superheavy element has been established, a possibility will arise to synthesize in nuclear reactions a number of isotopes belonging to the island of stability, and to investigate their properties. The present state of work on the search for superheavy elements in nature is briefly described

Validating PHITS for heavy ion fragmentation reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ronningen, Reginald M.

2015-01-01

The performance of the Monte Carlo code system PHITS is validated for heavy-ion transport capabilities by performing simulations and comparing results against experimental data from heavy-ion reactions of benchmark quality. These data are from measurements of isotope yields produced in the fragmentation of a 140 MeV/u "4"8Ca beam on a beryllium target and on a tantalum target. The results of this study show that PHITS performs reliably. (authors)

Evaluation of nuclear reaction cross section of some isotopes of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Coupled-channels optical model code OPTMAN is used as an alternative to experimental approach to evaluate the total reaction cross section for four different isotopes of Plutonium as an example of heavy rotational nuclei of the transuranium elements over an energy range of 10 to 20 MeV. The selected isotopes are the ...

Origin of the Moon Unveiled by its Heavy Iron Isotope Composition

Science.gov (United States)

Poitrasson, F.; Halliday, A. N.; Lee, D.; Levasseur, S.; Teutsch, N.

2002-12-01

The origin of the Moon has long been of interest and although the Giant Impact theory is currently the preferred explanation, unequivocal supporting evidence has been lacking. We have measured the iron isotope compositions of Shergotty-Nakhla-Chassigny meteorites and eucrites thought to come from Mars and Vesta, as well as samples from the Moon and the mafic Earth using high precision plasma source mass spectrometry. The mean iron isotope composition of the lunar samples, expressed in the conventional delta notation (d57Fe/54Fe) with respect to the IRMM-14 isotopic standard, is heavier (0.221 per mil (0.041: one standard deviation, 10 samples)) than those of the Earth (0.119 per mil (0.044, 7 samples)), which themselves are heavier than Martian meteorites (0.009 per mil (0.024, 6 samples)) and the eucrites measured (0.033 per mil (0.038, 7 samples)). Student's t-test calculations show that the Moon and Earth means are different from each other and from those of the other planetary bodies at >99% level of significance. The iron isotope compositions show no simple relationship with planetary heliocentric position, mantle oxygen fugacity, volatile content, or planet size. Similarly, these results do not support an origin of the Moon through co-accretion with the Earth, or as a fragment ejected from the Earth's mantle, or as another planet captured by the early Earth. In contrast, these data can be explained if the Earth, and especially the Moon, went through partial vaporisation and condensation leading to kinetic iron isotopic fractionation. Our data are also consistent with the suggested levels of enrichment of refractory elements for the bulk Earth and Moon. These new iron isotope results thus provide strong support for the origin of the Moon through a giant impact between the proto-Earth and another planet. Raleigh kinetic fractionation calculations indicate that only 1% loss of the current Fe budget of the Moon is required to explain its heavier isotopic

Mass spectrometric investigation of the isotopes of ozone in the laboratory and the stratosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mauersberger, K.; Morton, J.; Schueler, B.

1991-01-01

During the last few years information on the isotope anomalies of ozone has substantially increased. Whenever ozone is formed in a gas phase reaction, an enhancement in its heavy isotopes is found of magnitude 12-14% ( 50 O 3 ) above the statistically expected values. The mass-independent enhancement decreases toward higher pressures and also shows a pronounced temperature dependence. Toward lower temperatures the enhancement becomes less. Studies of all possible ozone isotopes have shown that molecular symmetry plays a major role. Even large enhancements, above the laboratory results, have been occasionally measured in the stratosphere using a number of different experimental techniques. A correlation between very high heavy ozone enhancement (> 30%) and high solar activity may exist. The behavior of ozone isotopes will provide information about the ozone formation process

The Structure of the Heavy Calcium Isotopes and the Effective Interaction in the sd-fp Shell

CERN Multimedia

Dorvaux, O; Nowacki, F; Courtin, S; Marechal, F; Siiskonen, T M; Perrot, F; Pietri, S B

2002-01-01

Nuclei with 40 $<$ A $<$ 56, near the stability line, are very well described in the frame of the shell model. However, when the number of neutrons increases, the situation becomes more complex which explains why the interaction can be found very dissimilar within different calculations. Heavy Ca isotopes, because of the simplicity of their wave-functions, correspond to the optimal choice to fix unambiguously the interaction in this mass region.\\\\ It is proposed to measure the $\\beta$-decay of $^{51, 52, 53}$K with the help of an utmost performing neutron (TONNERRE array) and $\\gamma$- (Miniball clusters) detection, allowing efficient coincidence measurements. This will allow the lowest lying Gamow-Teller states to be located in $^{51, 52, 53}$Ca, and the still unknown properties of natural parity states to be investigated. The awaited results should allow to settle the n-n interaction in the fp shell and the Gnp matrix accross the sd and fp shells, one step farther from stability, by comparison with fu...

Heavy-ion injector based on an electron cyclotron ion source for the superconducting linear accelerator of the Rare Isotope Science Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, In-Seok; Kim, Yong-Hwan; Choi, Bong-Hyuk; Choi, Suk-Jin; Park, Bum-Sik; Jin, Hyun-Chang; Kim, Hye-Jin; Heo, Jeong-Il; Kim, Deok-Min; Jang, Ji-Ho

2016-02-01

The injector for the main driver linear accelerator of the Rare Isotope Science Project in Korea, has been developed to allow heavy ions up to uranium to be delivered to the inflight fragmentation system. The critical components of the injector are the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources, the radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ), and matching systems for low and medium energy beams. We have built superconducting magnets for the ECR ion source, and a prototype with one segment of the RFQ structure, with the aim of developing a design that can satisfy our specifications, demonstrate stable operation, and prove results to compare the design simulation.

Utilization of stable isotopes for characterizing an underground gas generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pirard, J.P.; Antenucci, D.; Renard, X.; Letolle, R.

1994-01-01

The principles of isotopic exchange and isotope ratio result interpretation are first reviewed; then, in the framework of an underground coal gasification project in Belgium, experiments and modelling of the underground gas generator have been carried out: isotopic abundances of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen have been measured in the gasifying agent (O 2 , H 2 O) and in the effluent (CO 2 , CO, H 2 , H 2 O, CH 4 , O 2 , heavy oils and various organic and mineral substances). Gasification kinetics and temperatures have been evaluated and isotope application to thermometry is discussed. 1 fig., 9 refs

New neutron-deficient isotopes of barium and rare-earth elements

CERN Document Server

Bogdanov, D D; Karnaukhov, V A; Petrov, L A; Plochocki, A; Subbotin, V G; Voboril, J

1976-01-01

The authors present an investigation of the short-lived neutron- deficient isotopes of barium and rare-earth elements. By using the BEMS-2 isotope separator on a heavy ion beam, 19 new isotopes were produced with mass numbers ranging from 117 to 138. Five of these (/sup 117/Ba, /sup 129,131/Nd and /sup 133,135/Sm) turned out to be delayed proton emitters. The beta -decay probabilities for the new isotopes have been analyzed in terms of the beta -strength function. An analysis of the proton spectrum shape has been performed using the statistical model for delayed proton emission.

Nucleosynthesis of neutron-rich heavy nuclei during explosive helium burning in massive stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blake, J.B.; Woosley, S.E.; Weaver, T.A.; Schramm, D.N.

1981-01-01

The production of heavy nuclei during explosive helium burning has been calculated using a hydrodynamical model of a 15 M/sub sun/ (Type II) supernovae and a n-process nuclear reaction network. The resulting neutron-rich heavy nuclei are not produced in the relative abundances of solar-system r-process material, especially in the vicinity of Pt, nor are any actinides produced. These deficiencies reflect an inadequate supply of neutrons. However, some neutron-rich isotopes, normally associated with the r-process, are produced which may be significant for the production of isotopic anomalies in meteorites

Lithium isotope effect during solvent extraction of LiCl with isoamyl alcohol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levkin, A.V.; Zhilov, V.I.; Marokin, O.V.; Demin, S.V.

1991-01-01

Method of extraction chromatography was used to measure the coefficient of lithium isotope separation (α) during extraction with isoamyl alcohol from concentrated LiCl aqueous solution. The α value is equal to 1.0036±0.0009; heavy 7 Li isotope is concentrated in organic phase at that

Numerical analysis and optimisation of heavy water upgrading column

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sankar, Rama; Ghosh, Brindaban; Bhanja, K.

2013-01-01

In the 'Pressurised Heavy Water' type of reactors, heavy water is used both as moderator and coolant. During operation of reactor downgraded heavy water is generated that needs to be upgraded for reuse in the reactor. When the isotopic purity of heavy water becomes less than 99.75%, it is termed as downgraded heavy water. Downgraded heavy water also contains impurity such as corrosion products, dirt, oil etc. Upgradation of downgraded heavy water is normally done in two steps: (i) Purification: In this step downgraded heavy water is first purified to remove corrosion products, dirt, oil, etc. and (ii) Upgradation of heavy water to increase its isotopic purity, this step is carried out by vacuum distillation of downgraded heavy water after purification. This project is aimed at mathematical modelling and numerical simulation of heavy water upgrading column. Modelling and simulation studies of the upgradation column are based on equilibrium stage model to evaluate the effect of feed location, pressure, feed composition, reflux ratio in the packed column for given reboiler and condenser duty of distillation column. State to stage modelling of two-phase two-component flow has constitutes the overall modelling of the column. The governing equations consist of stage-wise species and overall mass continuity and stage-wise energy balance. This results in tridigonal matrix equation for stage liquid fractions for heavy and light water. The stage-wise liquid flow rates and temperatures are governed by stage-wise mass and energy balance. The combined form of the corresponding governing equations, with the incorporation of thermodynamic equation of states, form a system of nonlinear equations. This system have been resolved numerically using modified Newton-Raphson method. A code in the MATLAB platform has been developed by on above numerical procedure. The optimisation of the column operating conditions is to be carried out based on parametric studies and analysis of different

Preliminary Shielding Assessment for the IFF System in the RAON Heavy-ion Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Cheol Woo; Lee, Youngouk; Kim, Jong Won; Kim, Mijung

2014-01-01

A heavy-ion accelerator facility is under a development in Korea to use in the basic science research and various application areas. In this facility, the In-Flight Fragment (IFF) target and isotope separator has been designed to produce various isotopes and transport the interesting isotopes into the experimental rooms. In this work, preliminary radiation shielding assessment was performed for the IFF target room

Basic atomic interactions of accelerated heavy ions in matter atomic interactions of heavy ions

CERN Document Server

Tolstikhina, Inga; Winckler, Nicolas; Shevelko, Viacheslav

2018-01-01

This book provides an overview of the recent experimental and theoretical results on interactions of heavy ions with gaseous, solid and plasma targets from the perspective of atomic physics. The topics discussed comprise stopping power, multiple-electron loss and capture processes, equilibrium and non-equilibrium charge-state fractions in penetration of fast ion beams through matter including relativistic domain. It also addresses mean charge-states and equilibrium target thickness in ion-beam penetrations, isotope effects in low-energy electron capture, lifetimes of heavy ion beams, semi-empirical formulae for effective cross sections. The book is intended for researchers and graduate students working in atomic, plasma and accelerator physics.

Radiographic Co-60 in component of heavy equipment casting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Djoli Soembogo, Harun Al Rasyid R dan Namad Sianta

2016-01-01

The application of radiography using isotope Co-60 source has been used on component of heavy equipment such as component of heavy equipment casting. Components of heavy equipment casting made through metal casting of carbon steel. This study tried applying digital radiography are using isotope Co-60 sources and using scanning positive film media of Epson V700 for digitization results of conventional radiographic films. This radiography is using film AGFA D7 and Fuji 100 to obtain a contrast medium, medium sensitivity and image quality is good. The purpose radiographic Co-60 at a component of heavy equipment casting is detecting indications of the shape and type casting defects of component of heavy equipment casting thus fit for use. Radiographic test of Co-60 has been carried out on component of heavy equipment casting with single wall single image method and the results of radiographic films digitization using scanning positive film media of Epson V700 with observation parameters casting defects. Time exposure of Co-60 radiation was 10 and 15 minutes hours for metal castings of carbon steel for thickness 20.00-50.00 mm by using activity 30.05 Ci and the perpendicular distance to the source of the film is 820 mm. Scanner positive film results in the form of digital radiography which allow for the transfer of digital data or digital computerized data storage. Radiographic test results on component of heavy equipment casting with single wall single image method produce the parameter casting defect of component of heavy equipment casting in position of critical area is found shrinkage that should be repaired and in position of safety area is not found defect indication so casting defect of component of heavy equipment casting are not acceptable according to standards referenced. (author)

K isomerism and collectivity in neutron-rich rare-earth isotopes.

OpenAIRE

Patel, Zena

2016-01-01

Neutron-rich rare-earth isotopes were produced by in-flight fission of 238U ions at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF), RIKEN, Japan. In-flight fission of a heavy, high-intensity beam of 238U ions on a light target provides the cleanest secondary beams of neutron-rich nuclei in the rare-earth region of isotopes. In-flight fission is advantageous over other methods of nuclear production, as it allows for a secondary beam to be extracted, from which the beam species can be separated an...

Frontiers of heavy element nuclear and radiochemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, D.C.

1999-01-01

The production and half-lives of the heaviest chemical elements, now known through Z=112, are reviewed. Recent experimental evidence for the stabilization of heavy element isotopes due to proximity to deformed nuclear shells at Z=108 and N=162 is compared with the theoretical predictions. The possible existence of isotopes of elements 107-110 with half-lives of seconds or longer, and production reactions and experimental techniques for increasing the overall yields of such isotopes in order to study both their nuclear and chemical properties are discussed. The present status of studies of the chemical properties of Rf, Ha, and Sg is briefly summarized and prospects for extending chemical studies beyond Sg are considered. (author)

Stable isotope composition of mercury forms in flue gases from a typical coal-fired power plant, Inner Mongolia, northern China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang, Shunlin; Feng, Chaohui; Feng, Xinbin; Zhu, Jianming; Sun, Ruoyu; Fan, Huipeng; Wang, Lina; Li, Ruiyang; Mao, Tonghua; Zhou, Ting

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The first speciated Hg isotope ratios in coal combustion flue gases are presented. • Significant Hg isotope kinetic MDF was observed during Hg forms transformation. • Emitted gaseous Hg highly enriches in heavy Hg isotopes relative to feed coal. - Abstract: Mercury forms emitted from coal combustion via air pollution control devices are speculated to carry different Hg isotope signatures. Yet, their Hg isotope composition is still not reported. Here, we present the first onsite Hg isotope data for gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) and gaseous oxidized Hg (GOM) of flue gases from a typical lignite-fired power plant (CFPP). Significant mass dependent fractionation (MDF) and insignificant mass independent fractionation (MIF) are observed between feed coal and coal combustion products. As compared to feed coal (δ 202 Hg = −2.04 ± 0.25‰), bottom ash, GEM and GOM in flue gases before and after wet flue gas desulfurization system significantly enrich heavy Hg isotopes by 0.7–2.6‰ in δ 202 Hg, while fly ash, desulfurization gypsum and waste water show slight but insignificant enrichment of light Hg isotopes. GEM is significantly enriched heavy Hg isotopes compared to GOM and Hg in fly ash. Our observations verify the previous speculation on Hg isotope fractionation mechanism in CFPPs, and suggest a kinetically-controlled mass dependent Hg isotope fractionation during transformation of Hg forms in flue gases. Finally, our data are compared to Hg isotope compositions of atmospheric Hg pools, suggesting that coal combustion Hg emission is likely an important atmospheric Hg contributor.

Stable isotope composition of mercury forms in flue gases from a typical coal-fired power plant, Inner Mongolia, northern China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, Shunlin, E-mail: tangshunlin@hpu.edu.cn [Institute of Resources and Environment, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan Province, 454000 (China); Feng, Chaohui [Institute of Resources and Environment, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan Province, 454000 (China); Feng, Xinbin [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550002 (China); Zhu, Jianming [Institute of Resources and Environment, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan Province, 454000 (China); State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100086 (China); Sun, Ruoyu, E-mail: ruoyu.sun@tju.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Fan, Huipeng; Wang, Lina; Li, Ruiyang; Mao, Tonghua [Institute of Resources and Environment, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan Province, 454000 (China); Zhou, Ting [State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550002 (China)

2017-04-15

Highlights: • The first speciated Hg isotope ratios in coal combustion flue gases are presented. • Significant Hg isotope kinetic MDF was observed during Hg forms transformation. • Emitted gaseous Hg highly enriches in heavy Hg isotopes relative to feed coal. - Abstract: Mercury forms emitted from coal combustion via air pollution control devices are speculated to carry different Hg isotope signatures. Yet, their Hg isotope composition is still not reported. Here, we present the first onsite Hg isotope data for gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) and gaseous oxidized Hg (GOM) of flue gases from a typical lignite-fired power plant (CFPP). Significant mass dependent fractionation (MDF) and insignificant mass independent fractionation (MIF) are observed between feed coal and coal combustion products. As compared to feed coal (δ{sup 202}Hg = −2.04 ± 0.25‰), bottom ash, GEM and GOM in flue gases before and after wet flue gas desulfurization system significantly enrich heavy Hg isotopes by 0.7–2.6‰ in δ{sup 202}Hg, while fly ash, desulfurization gypsum and waste water show slight but insignificant enrichment of light Hg isotopes. GEM is significantly enriched heavy Hg isotopes compared to GOM and Hg in fly ash. Our observations verify the previous speculation on Hg isotope fractionation mechanism in CFPPs, and suggest a kinetically-controlled mass dependent Hg isotope fractionation during transformation of Hg forms in flue gases. Finally, our data are compared to Hg isotope compositions of atmospheric Hg pools, suggesting that coal combustion Hg emission is likely an important atmospheric Hg contributor.

Isotopic fingerprint of the middle Olt River basin, Romania.

Science.gov (United States)

Popescu, Raluca; Costinel, Diana; Ionete, Roxana Elena; Axente, Damian

2014-01-01

One of the most important tributaries of the Danube River in Romania, the Olt River, was characterized in its middle catchment in terms of the isotopic composition using continuous flow-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS). Throughout a period of 10 months, from November 2010 to August 2011, water samples from the Olt River and its more important tributaries were collected in order to investigate the seasonal and spatial isotope patterns of the basin waters. The results revealed a significant difference between the Olt River and its tributaries, by the fact that the Olt River waters show smaller seasonal variations in the stable isotopic composition and are more depleted in (18)O and (2)H. The waters present an overall enrichment in heavy isotopes during the warm seasons.

Combined electrolysis catalytic exchange (CECE) process for hydrogen isotope separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hammerli, M.; Stevens, W.H.; Butler, J.P.

1978-01-01

Hydrogen isotopes can be separated efficiently by a process which combines an electrolysis cell with a trickle bed column packed with a hydrophobic platinum catalyst. The column effects isotopic exchange between countercurrent streams of electrolytic hydrogen and liquid water while the electrolysis cell contributes to isotope separation by virtue of the kinetic isotope effect inherent in the hydrogen evolution reaction. The main features of the CECE process for heavy water production are presented as well as a discussion of the inherent positive synergistic effects, and other advantages and disadvantages of the process. Several potential applications of the process in the nuclear power industry are discussed. 3 figures, 2 tables

Kinematic separation and mass analysis of heavy recoiling nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oganesyan, Yu.Ts.; Eremin, A.V.; Belozerov, A.V.

2002-01-01

Within the past twelve years, the recoil separator VASSILISSA has been used for investigation of evaporation residues produced in heavy-ion induced complete-fusion reactions. In the course of the experimental work in the region of the elements with 92 ≤ Z ≤ 94, fourteen new isotopes have been identified by the parent-daughter correlations. The study of the decay properties and formation cross sections of the isotopes of elements 110, 112, and 114 was performed with the use of the high intensity 48 Ca beams; 232 Th, 238 U and 242 Pu targets were used in the experiments. At the beam energies corresponding to the calculated cross-section maxima of the 3n evaporation channels, the isotopes 277 110, 283 112, and 287 114 were produced and identified. For further experiments aimed at the synthesis of the superheavy element isotopes (Z ≥ 110) with the intensive 48 Ca extracted beams, the improvements in the ion optical system of the separator and of the focal plane detector system have been made. As a result, for heavy recoiling nuclei with masses A ∼ 250, the mass resolution of about 2.5 % was achieved with a good energy and position resolutions of the focal plane detectors

Defining a stable water isotope framework for isotope hydrology application in a large trans-boundary watershed (Russian Federation/Ukraine).

Science.gov (United States)

Vystavna, Yuliya; Diadin, Dmytro; Huneau, Frédéric

2018-05-01

Stable isotopes of hydrogen ( 2 H) and oxygen ( 18 O) of the water molecule were used to assess the relationship between precipitation, surface water and groundwater in a large Russia/Ukraine trans-boundary river basin. Precipitation was sampled from November 2013 to February 2015, and surface water and groundwater were sampled during high and low flow in 2014. A local meteoric water line was defined for the Ukrainian part of the basin. The isotopic seasonality in precipitation was evident with depletion in heavy isotopes in November-March and an enrichment in April-October, indicating continental and temperature effects. Surface water was enriched in stable water isotopes from upstream to downstream sites due to progressive evaporation. Stable water isotopes in groundwater indicated that recharge occurs mainly during winter and spring. A one-year data set is probably not sufficient to report the seasonality of groundwater recharge, but this survey can be used to identify the stable water isotopes framework in a weakly gauged basin for further hydrological and geochemical studies.

1000 tones of heavy water produced at ROMAG PROD, Drobeta-Turnu Severin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

On May 25, 2001 the heavy water plant ROMAG PROD at Drobeta-Turnu Severin recorded the production of the 1000-th tone of nuclear purity heavy water. The heavy water plant ROMAG PROD makes use of a technology based on the results of isotopic deuterium separation research carried out at the Research and Design Institutes of Cluj, Craiova, Pitesti and Ploiesti during 1957-1970 and the separation technology tested at Ramnicu-Valcea pilot plant (at present the Cryogenics and Isotope Separation Institute). The first investments at ROMAG PROD were made in 1979 and on July 17, 1988 was produced the first amount of heavy water at the required parameters for CANDU type nuclear reactors. The period between 1990-1992 was dedicated to the project completion, upgrading the technological facilities and retrofitting the environmental protection and monitoring systems. Production was resumed in 1992. The first 500 t of heavy water required for the Cernavoda NPP first reactor operation were produced by summer 1997. The additional amount of 500 t of heavy water was produced between 1997-2001. ROMAG PROD obtained the ISO 9001/2001 certificate for the quality management system, the ISO 14001/1997 certificate for the environmental management system and the new environmental permit

Table of specific activities of selected isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shipley, G.

The bulk of this publication consists of a table of the half-lives, decay modes, and specific activities of isotopes selected for their particular interest to the Environmental Health and Safety Department, LBL. The specific activities were calculated with a PDP 9/15 computer. Also included in the report is a table of stable isotopes, the Th and U decay chains, a chart of the nuclides for elements 101 through 106, the heavy element region of the periodic table, and a specific activity monograph. 5 figures, 2 tables

New isotopes of elements 104, 106 and 108 - highly stable superheavy nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oganessian, Yuri

1994-01-01

In April 1993, as part of a joint Dubna-Livermore experiment at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, new heavy isotopes of elements 104 and 106 were synthesized - 262 104, 265 106 and 266 106. Compared with the known even-even isotopes of elements 104 and 106, the new nuclei are characterized by their extraordinary high resistance to spontaneous fission. This is a direct proof of the macro-microscopic theory predictions in its version calculated by A.Sobiczewski et al. regarding a substantial increase in the half-lives of heavy nuclei near deformed shells with atomic number (Z) 108 and neutron number (N) 162.

Isotopic Resonance Hypothesis: Experimental Verification by Escherichia coli Growth Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xueshu; Zubarev, Roman A.

2015-03-01

Isotopic composition of reactants affects the rates of chemical and biochemical reactions. As a rule, enrichment of heavy stable isotopes leads to progressively slower reactions. But the recent isotopic resonance hypothesis suggests that the dependence of the reaction rate upon the enrichment degree is not monotonous. Instead, at some ``resonance'' isotopic compositions, the kinetics increases, while at ``off-resonance'' compositions the same reactions progress slower. To test the predictions of this hypothesis for the elements C, H, N and O, we designed a precise (standard error +/-0.05%) experiment that measures the parameters of bacterial growth in minimal media with varying isotopic composition. A number of predicted resonance conditions were tested, with significant enhancements in kinetics discovered at these conditions. The combined statistics extremely strongly supports the validity of the isotopic resonance phenomenon (p biotechnology, medicine, chemistry and other areas.

Hydrogen isotope separation by cryogenic distillation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayakawa, Nobuo; Mitsui, Jin

1987-01-01

Hydrogen isotope separation in fusion fuel cycle and tritium recovery from heavy water reactor are very important, and therefore the early establishment of these separation techniques are desired. The cryogenic distillation method in particular is promising for the separation of hydrogen isotope and the recovery of high concentrated tritium. The studies of hydrogen isotope separation by cryogenic distillation method have been carried out by using the experimental apparatus made for the first time in Japan. The separation of three components (H 2 -HD-D 2 ) under total reflux conditions was got by using the packing tower of 500 mm height. It was confirmed that the Height Equivalent Theoretical Plate (HETP) was 20 - 30 mm for the vapor's line velocity of 20 - 80 mm/s. (author)

Weathering and vegetation controls on nickel isotope fractionation in surface ultramafic environments (Albania)

Science.gov (United States)

Estrade, Nicolas; Cloquet, Christophe; Echevarria, Guillaume; Sterckeman, Thibault; Deng, Tenghaobo; Tang, YeTao; Morel, Jean-Louis

2015-08-01

The dissolved nickel (Ni) isotopic composition of rivers and oceans presents an apparent paradox. Even though rivers represent a major source of Ni in the oceans, seawater is more enriched in the heavier isotopes than river-water. Additional sources or processes must therefore be invoked to account for the isotopic budget of dissolved Ni in seawater. Weathering of continental rocks is thought to play a major role in determining the magnitude and sign of isotopic fractionation of metals between a rock and the dissolved product. We present a study of Ni isotopes in the rock-soil-plant systems of several ultramafic environments. The results reveal key insights into the magnitude and the control of isotopic fractionation during the weathering of continental ultramafic rocks. This study introduces new constraints on the influence of vegetation during the weathering process, which should be taken into account in interpretations of the variability of Ni isotopes in rivers. The study area is located in a temperate climate zone within the ophiolitic belt area of Albania. The serpentinized peridotites sampled present a narrow range of heavy Ni isotopic compositions (δ60Ni = 0.25 ± 0.16 ‰, 2SD n = 2). At two locations, horizons within two soil profiles affected by different degrees of weathering all presented light isotopic compositions compared to the parent rock (Δ60Nisoil-rock up to - 0.63 ‰). This suggests that the soil pool takes up the light isotopes, while the heavier isotopes remain in the dissolved phase. By combining elemental and mineralogical analyses with the isotope compositions determined for the soils, the extent of fractionation was found to be controlled by the secondary minerals formed in the soil. The types of vegetation growing on ultramafic-derived soils are highly adapted and include both Ni-hyperaccumulating species, which can accumulate several percent per weight of Ni, and non-accumulating species. Whole-plant isotopic compositions were found

The use of stable isotopes in quantitative determinations of exogenous water and added ethanol in wines

Science.gov (United States)

Magdas, D. A.; Moldovan, Z.; Cristea, G.

2012-02-01

The application of oxygen isotope ratios analysis to wine water according to EU regulation no. 822/97 to determine wine's origin and also, the possible water addition to wines, gained great importance in wines authenticity control. In the natural cycle of water isotopic fractionation, during water evaporation process, the water vapors are depleted in heavy isotopes. On the other hand inside the plants take place an isotope enrichment of heavy stable isotopes of water compared with meteoric water due to photosynthesis and plants transpiration. This process makes possible the detection of exogenous water from wines 18O/16O ratios. Carbon isotopic ratios were used to estimate the supplementary addition of ethanol obtained from C4 plants (sugar cane or corn). This work presents the way in which the isotopic fingerprints (δ13C and δ18O) were used to determine the content of exogenous water from wines and the added supplementary ethanol coming from C4 plants. By using this method, the calculated values obtained for the degree of wine adulteration were in a good agreement with the real exogenous percent of water and ethanol from investigated samples.

Using MASHA+TIMEPIX Setup for Registration Beta Decay Isotopes Produced in Heavy Ion Induced Reactions

Science.gov (United States)

Rodin, A. M.; Belozerov, A. V.; Chernysheva, E. V.; Dmitriev, S. N.; Gulyaev, A. V.; Gulyaeva, A. V.; Itkis, M. G.; Novoselov, A. S.; Oganessian, Yu. Ts.; Salamatin, V. S.; Stepantsov, S. V.; Vedeneev, V. Yu.; Yukhimchuk, S. A.; Krupa, L.; Granja, C.; Pospisil, S.; Kliman, J.; Motycak, S.; Sivacek, I.

2015-06-01

Radon and mercury isotopes were produced in multi nucleon transfer (48Ca + 232Th) and complete fusion (48Ca + naturalNd) reactions, respectively. The isotopes with given masses were detected using two detectors: a multi-strip detector of the well-type (made in CANBERRA) and a position-sensitive quantum counting hybrid pixel detector of the TIMEPIX type. The isotopes implanted into the detectors then emit alpha- and betaparticles until reaching the long lived isotopes. The position of the isotopes, the tracks, the time and energy of beta-particles were measured and analyzed. A new software for the particle recognition and data analysis of experimental results was developed and used. It was shown that MASHA+ TIMEPIX setup is a powerful instrument for investigation of neutron-rich isotopes far from stability limits.

The use of stable isotopes in medicinal chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halliday, D.; Thompson, G.N.

1988-01-01

Stable isotopes have been employed increasingly as tracers over the last decade both to provide the clinician with the opportunity to broaden, in a quantitative manner, discrete areas of diagnosis and research, and the clinical chemist with definitive methodology for specific analyte analysis. These non-radioactive 'heavy' isotopes contain one or more extra neutrons in the nucleus compared with their more abundant 'lighter' analogues. Impetus in the application of stable isotopes for in vivo studies has come from an increased awareness of the possible harmful effects in the use of radionuclides, and a realisation of several positive advantages conferred by the use of stable isotopes in their own right - certain elements of clinical importance (especially nitrogen) lack a useable radio-nuclide equivalent; use of a 'cocktail' of stable isotopes permits a range of studies to be performed in the same patient simultaneously and, within specific constraints, serial studies can be performed in the same patients. (author)

On separation of heavy isotopes by means of selective ICRH

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotelnikov, I.A.; Kuzmin, S.G.; Volosov, V.I.

1998-01-01

The authors present a theoretical study of the isotope separation by means of isotopically selective ion cyclotron resonance plasma heating (ICRH). The special attention is devoted to the separation of gadolinium isotopes. The ions are supposed to pass through the device shown on Fig. 1 where they are heated by the full-turn-loop antenna that excites RF field with azimuthal number m = 0. They calculate the distribution function of ions in a plasma stream at the orifice of the device. A satisfactory separation is achieved for the following values of parameters. The length of heating zone ell = 200 cm, initial temperature of plasma stream T parallel = 5 eV, T perpendicular = 60 eV, the plasma radius a = 10 cm, plasma density n = 10 12 cm -3 , external magnetic field B = 30 kGs. The energy of resonance ions W = 100 divided-by 200 eV. The latter value is achieved if a current in the antenna loops is equal to 60A with full number of loops N = 150. With the specified parameters, the current in the plasma stream is equal to 15 divided-by 20A. Then the production rate equals to 100 kg of Gd 157 per year. Energy of Gd's ions after pass through the heating zone vs. their axial velocity

Heavy-atom isotope effects on binding of reactants to lactate dehydrogenase and pyruvate kinase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gawlita, E.

1993-04-01

18 O and 13 C kinetic isotope effects have been measured on the reaction of pyruvate kinase with phospho-enol-pyruvate and ADP using a remote label technique. The magnitude of both investigated isotope effects showed a dependence on the concentration of ADP. However, while the carbon effect was simply 'washed out' to unity at high ATP concentration, the oxygen effect becomes inverse and reached 0.9928 at the highest used concentration of ADP. Such a result testifies that the assumption of the negligible effect of isotopic substitution on enzyme-substrate associations remains correct only for carbon effects. An equilibrium 18 O isotope effect on association of oxalate with lactate dehydrogenase in the presence of NADHP has been evaluated by both experimental and theoretical means. Experimental methods, which involved equilibrium dialysis and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric measurement of isotopic ration, yielded an inverse value of 0.9840. Semiempirical methods involved vibrational analysis of oxalate in two different environments. The comparison of calculated values with the experimentally determined isotope effect indicated that the AM 1 Hamiltonian proved superior to its PM 3 counterpart in this modelling. 160 refs, 8 figs, 18 tabs

Direction of Heavy Water Projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-07-01

Summary of the activities performed by the Heavy Water Projects Direction of the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission from 1950 to 1983. It covers: historical data; industrial plant (based on ammonia-hydrogen isotopic exchange); experimental plant (utilizing hydrogen sulfides-water process); Module-80 plant (2-3 tons per year experimental plant with national technology) and other related tasks on research and development (E.A.C.) [es

Decay of new mass-separated neutron-deficient La and Ce isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Genevey, J.; Gizon, A.; Idrissi, N.; Weiss, B.; Beraud, R.; Charvet, A.; Duffait, R.; Emsallem, A.; Meyer, M.; Ollivier, T.; Redon, N.

1987-01-01

By use of a He jet system coupled to a Bernas-Nier ion-source, several new mass-separated A = 122 - 127 isotopes reached in heavy ion fusion reactions at SARA have been identified and studied. From experimental decay properties of La isotopes, systematics of low-lying energy levels have been extended for even-even and odd-A barium. New informations on Ce decay schemes are briefly reported

New semi-empirical formula for α-decay half-lives of the heavy and superheavy nuclei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manjunatha, H.C. [Government College for Women, Department of Physics, Kolar, Karnataka (India); Sridhar, K.N. [Government First Grade College, Department of Physics, Kolar, Karnataka (India)

2017-07-15

We have succesfully formulated the semi-empirical formula for α-decay half-lives of heavy and superheavy nuclei for different isotopes of the wide atomic-number range 94 < Z < 136. We have considered 2627 isotopes of heavy and superheavy nuclei for the fitting. The value produced by the present formula is compared with that of experiments and other eleven models, i.e. ImSahu, Sahu, Royer10, VS2, UNIV2, SemFIS2, WKB. Sahu16, Densov, VSS and Royer formula. This formula is exclusively for heavy and superheavy nuclei. α-decay is one of the dominant decay mode of superheavy nucleus. By identifying the α-decay mode superheavy nuclei can be detected. This formula helps in predicting the α-decay chains of superheavy nuclei. (orig.)

Design of 57.5 MHz CW RFQ structure for the Rare Isotope ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) facility includes a driver LINAC for production of 400 kW CW heavy-ion beams. The initial acceleration of heavy ions delivered from an ECR ion source can be effectively performed by a 57.5 MHz 4 m long RFQ. The principal specifications of the RFQ are: (1) formation of extremely low ...

Isotope effects of sulfur in chemical reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikolajczuk, A.

1999-01-01

Sulfur is an important component of organic matter because it forms compounds with many elements. Due to high chemical activity of sulfur, it takes part in biological and geological processes in which isotope effects are occurring. It has been shown during last years research of isotope effects that we have take into account not only mass difference but also many other physical properties of nuclides e.g. even or odd number of neutrons in nuclei, shape and distribution of charge, turn of nuclear spin etc. The factor remains that new theoretical ideas have been formed on the base of data, being obtained in fractionation processes of heavy element isotope, particularly uranium. Now it is being well known that effects unconnected with vibration energy have also caused an effect on fractionation of considerably lighter elements like iron and magnesium. The important question is, if these effects would come to light during the separation of sulfur isotopes. Sulfur have three even isotopes M = (32, 34, 36) and one odd M 33). This problem is still open. (author)

High energy heavy ions: techniques and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alonso, J.R.

1985-04-01

Pioneering work at the Bevalac has given significant insight into the field of relativistic heavy ions, both in the development of techniques for acceleration and delivery of these beams as well as in many novel areas of applications. This paper will outline our experiences at the Bevalac; ion sources, low velocity acceleration, matching to the synchrotron booster, and beam delivery. Applications discussed will include the observation of new effects in central nuclear collisions, production of beams of exotic short-lived (down to 1 μsec) isotopes through peripheral nuclear collisions, atomic physics with hydrogen-like uranium ions, effects of heavy ''cosmic rays'' on satellite equipment, and an ongoing cancer radiotherapy program with heavy ions. 39 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab

The genesis and isotopic composition of carbonates associated with some Permian Australian coals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gould, K.W.; Smith, J.W.

1979-01-01

Siderite and calcite are the two forms of carbonate commonly associated with Permian Australian coals. The former occurs as disseminated spherulites and is a product of the early post-depositional environment. Isotopic measurements show that the CO 2 fixed as siderite did not result from the direct oxidation of photosynthetically derived materials, but rather from the anaerobic fermentation of these. The higher concentrations of calcite are generally found towards the roofs of coal seams and are characterized by isotopic enrichments to delta 13 C values of +25% PDB. Isotopic exchange between CO 2 and CH 4 within the coal seam is postulated as the mechanism which leads to the formation of isotopically heavy CO 2 . At sites along the seam margins where the CO 2 escapes, interaction with circulating metal ions or preexisting calcite results in the deposition of ''heavy'' calcite. With increasing alteration of coal by thermal metamorphism, the 13 C content of calcites and finally siderites decreases so that it more nearly approaches that of the associated coal. (Auth.)

Strontium stable isotope behaviour accompanying basalt weathering

Science.gov (United States)

Burton, K. W.; Parkinson, I. J.; Gíslason, S. G. R.

2016-12-01

The strontium (Sr) stable isotope composition of rivers is strongly controlled by the balance of carbonate to silicate weathering (Krabbenhöft et al. 2010; Pearce et al. 2015). However, rivers draining silicate catchments possess distinctly heavier Sr stable isotope values than their bedrock compositions, pointing to significant fractionation during weathering. Some have argued for preferential release of heavy Sr from primary phases during chemical weathering, others for the formation of secondary weathering minerals that incorporate light isotopes. This study presents high-precision double-spike Sr stable isotope data for soils, rivers, ground waters and estuarine waters from Iceland, reflecting both natural weathering and societal impacts on those environments. The bedrock in Iceland is dominantly basaltic, d88/86Sr ≈ +0.27, extending to lighter values for rhyolites. Geothermal waters range from basaltic Sr stable compositions to those akin to seawater. Soil pore waters reflect a balance of input from primary mineral weathering, precipitation and litter recycling and removal into secondary phases and vegetation. Rivers and ground waters possess a wide range of d88/86Sr compositions from +0.101 to +0.858. Elemental and isotope data indicate that this fractionation primarily results from the formation or dissolution of secondary zeolite (d88/86Sr ≈ +0.10), but also carbonate (d88/86Sr ≈ +0.22) and sometimes anhydrite (d88/86Sr ≈ -0.73), driving the residual waters to heavier or lighter values, respectively. Estuarine waters largely reflect mixing with seawater, but are also be affected by adsorption onto particulates, again driving water to heavy values. Overall, these data indicate that the stability and nature of secondary weathering phases, exerts a strong control on the Sr stable isotope composition of silicate rivers. [1] Krabbenhöft et al. (2010) Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 74, 4097-4109. [2] Pearce et al. (2015) Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 157, 125-146.

Analysis of Stable Isotope Contents of Surface and Underground ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sam Eshun

(2H/1H) ratios relative to a standard called Standard Mean Ocean Water (SMOW) ..... Hence, higher forest cover has greater influence on heavy isotope ... Accra Plains is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean where the relative humidity is higher ...

Systematic model calculations of the hyperfine structure in light and heavy ions

CERN Document Server

Tomaselli, M; Nörtershäuser, W; Ewald, G; Sánchez, R; Fritzsche, S; Karshenboim, S G

2003-01-01

Systematic model calculations are performed for the magnetization distributions and the hyperfine structure (HFS) of light and heavy ions with a mass close to A ~ 6 208 235 to test the interplay of nuclear and atomic structure. A high-precision measurement of lithium-isotope shifts (IS) for suitable transition, combined with an accurate theoretical evaluation of the mass-shift contribution in the respective transition, can be used to determine the root-mean-square (rms) nuclear-charge radius of Li isotopes, particularly of the halo nucleus /sup 11/Li. An experiment of this type is currently underway at GSI in Darmstadt and ISOLDE at CERN. However, the field-shift contributions between the different isotopes can be evaluated using the results obtained for the charge radii, thus casting, with knowledge of the ratio of the HFS constants to the magnetic moments, new light on the IS theory. For heavy charged ions the calculated n- body magnetization distributions reproduce the HFS of hydrogen-like ions well if QED...

Tracing the sources of stream sediments by Pb isotopes and trace elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kyung-Seok Ko; Jae Gon Kim; Kyoochul Ha; Kil Yong Lee

2012-01-01

The objective of this research is to trace the sources of stream sediments in a small watershed influenced by anthropogenic and lithogenic origins identified by the spatial distributions and temporal variations of stream sediments using geochemical interpretation of the stable and radiogenic isotopes, major components, and heavy metals data and principal component analysis. To know the effects of both present and past mining, the stream sediments were sampled at the stream tributaries and sediment coring work. The spatial distributions of heavy metals clearly showed the effects of Cu and Pb-Zn mineralization zones at the site. Anthropogenic Pb was elevated at the downstream area by the stream sediments due to an active quarry. The results of principal components analysis also represent the effects of the stream sediments origins, including anthropogenic wastes and the active quarry and lithogenic sediment. Anomalous Cu, indicating the effect of past Guryong mining, was identified at the deep core sediments of 1.80-5.05 m depth. The influence of active quarry was shown in the recently deposited sediments of 210 Pb and stable Pb and Sr isotopes. This study suggests that the chemical studies using radiogenic and stable isotopes and heavy metals and multivariate statistical method are useful tools to discriminate the sources of stream sediments with different origins. (author)

Decay of heavy and superheavy nuclei

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

April 2014 physics pp. 705–715. Decay of heavy and superheavy nuclei ... study on the feasibility of observing α decay chains from the isotopes of the ... studies on 284−286115 and 288−292117 will be a guide to future experiments. .... ratio of the α decay from the ground state of the parent nucleus to the level i of the.

Molybdenum isotope fractionation during acid leaching of a granitic uranium ore

Science.gov (United States)

Migeon, Valérie; Bourdon, Bernard; Pili, Eric; Fitoussi, Caroline

2018-06-01

As an attempt to prevent illicit trafficking of nuclear materials, it is critical to identify the origin and transformation of uranium materials from the nuclear fuel cycle based on chemical and isotope tracers. The potential of molybdenum (Mo) isotopes as tracers is considered in this study. We focused on leaching, the first industrial process used to release uranium from ores, which is also known to extract Mo depending on chemical conditions. Batch experiments were performed in the laboratory with pH ranging from 0.3 to 5.5 in sulfuric acid. In order to span a large range in uranium and molybdenum yields, oxidizers such as nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide and manganese dioxide were also added. An enrichment in heavy Mo isotopes is produced in the solution during leaching of a granitic uranium ore, when Mo recovery is not quantitative. At least two Mo reservoirs were identified in the ore: ∼40% as Mo oxides soluble in water or sulfuric acid, and ∼40% of Mo hosted in sulfides soluble in nitric acid or hydrogen peroxide. At pH > 1.8, adsorption and/or precipitation processes induce a decrease in Mo yields with time correlated with large Mo isotope fractionations. Quantitative models were used to evaluate the relative importance of the processes involved in Mo isotope fractionation: dissolution, adsorption, desorption, precipitation, polymerization and depolymerization. Model best fits are obtained when combining the effects of dissolution/precipitation, and adsorption/desorption onto secondary minerals. These processes are inferred to produce an equilibrium isotope fractionation, with an enrichment in heavy Mo isotopes in the liquid phase and in light isotopes in the solid phase. Quantification of Mo isotope fractionation resulting from uranium leaching is thus a promising tool to trace the origin and transformation of nuclear materials. Our observations of Mo leaching are also consistent with observations of natural Mo isotope fractionation taking place during

Optimizing design parameter for light isotopes separation by distillation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmadi, M.

1999-01-01

More than methods are suggested in the world for producing heavy water, where between them chemical isotopic methods, distillation and electro lys are used widely in industrial scale. To select suitable method for heavy water production in Iran, taking into consideration, domestic technology an facilities, combination of hydrogen sulphide-water dual temperature process (Gs) and distillation (D W) may be proposed. Natural water, is firstly enriched up to 15 a% by G S process and then by distillation unit is enriched up to the grade necessary for Candu type reactors (99.8 a%). The aim of present thesis, is to achieve know-how, optimization of design parameters, and executing basic design for water isotopes separation using distillation process in a plant having minimum scale possible. In distillation, vapour phase resulted from liquid phase heating, is evidently composed of the same constituents as liquid phase. In isotopic distillation, the difference in composition of constituents is not considerable. In fact alteration of constituents composition is so small that makes the separation process impossible, however, direct separation and production of pure products without further processing which becomes possible by distillation, makes this process as one of the most important separation processes. Profiting distillation process to produce heavy water is based on difference existing between boiling point of heavy and light water. The trends of boiling points differences (heavy and light water) is adversely dependant with pressure. As the whole system pressure decreases, difference in boiling points increases. On the other hand according to the definition, separation factor is equal to the ratio of pure light water vapour pressure to that of heavy water, or we can say that the trend of whole system pressure decrease results in separation factor increase, which accordingly separation factor equation to pressure variable should be computed firstly. According to the

Monitoring of chemical and isotopic composition of the Euphrates river in Syria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kattan, Z.

2008-11-01

The ratios of stable isotopes ( 18 O and 2 H), tritium content, together with the chemical composition of major ions of the Euphrates and Balikh (Euphrates tributary) Rivers, and the groundwaters of four wells drilled close to the Euphrates River course, were measured on a monthly basis. The Euphrates River water was monitored at twelve stations along its course in Syria during the period from January 2004 to December 2006, whereas those of the Balikh and groundwaters were only investigated during 2005. Although, the spatial variations of heavy stable isotope concentrations are moderated with respect to other large rivers in the world, the concentrations of these isotopes increase generally downstream the Euphrates River, with a sharp enrichment at Al-Assad Lake. This sharp increase could be explained by the effect of direct evaporation from the river and its tributaries; and the effect of drainage return flows of irrigation waters, isotopically more enriched. Enrichment of stable isotopes in the Euphrates River water was used as a direct indicator of evaporation. Based on an experimental evaporation result of a Euphrates water sample and the integral enrichment of heavy stable isotopes in the Euphrates River system, the amount of water losses by evaporation from Al-Assad Lake was estimated to be about 1.26 to 1.62 billion m''3, according to 18 O and deuterium ( 2 H), respectively. This amount represents about 12-16% of the renewable surface water resources in the country. (author)

Analysis of transuranic isotopes in irradiated U3Si2-Al fuel by alpha spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dian Anggraini; Aslina B Ginting; Arif Nugroho

2011-01-01

Separation and analysis of transuranic isotopes (uranium and plutonium) in irradiated U 3 Si 2 -Al plate has been done. The analysis experiment includes sample preparation (i.e. cutting, dissolving, filtering, dilution), fission products separation from heavy elements, and analysis of transuranic isotopes content with alpha spectrometer. The separation of transuranic isotopes (U, Pu) was done by two methods, i.e. direct method and ion exchanger method with zeolite. Measurement of standard transuranic isotope (AMR 43) and standard U 3 O 8 was done in advance in order to determine percentage of 235 U recovery and detector efficiency. Recovery of 235 U isotope was obtained as much as 92,58%, which fulfills validation requirement, and the detector efficiency was 0.314. Based on the measured recovery and detector efficiency, the separation was done by direct electrodeposition method of 250 µL irradiated U 3 Si 2 -Al solution. The deposited sample was subsequently analyzed with alpha spectrometer. The separation with ion exchanger was done by mixing and shaking of 300 µL irradiated U 3 Si 2 -Al solution and 0.5 gram zeolite to separate the liquid phase from the solid phase. The liquid phase was electrodeposited and analyzed with alpha spectrometer. The analysis of transuranic isotopes (U, Pu) by both methods shows different results. Heavy element ( 238 U, 236 U, 234 U, 239 Pu) content obtained by direct method was 0.0525 g/g and 235 U= 0.0076 g/g, while the separation using zeolite ion exchanger resulted in Heavy element = 0.0253 g/g and 235 U = 0.0092 g/g. (author)

Boron isotopic enrichment by displacement chromatography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohapatra, K.K.; Bose, Arun

2014-01-01

10 B enriched boron is used in applications requiring high volumetric neutron absorption (absorption cross section- 3837 barn for thermal and 1 barn for 1 MeV fast neutron). It is used in fast breeder reactor (as control rod material), in neutron counter, in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy etc. Owing to very small separation factor, boron isotopic enrichment is a complex process requiring large number of separation stages. Heavy Water Board has ventured in industrial scale production of 10 B enriched boron using Exchange Distillation Process as well as Ion Displacement Chromatography Process. Ion Displacement Chromatography process is used in Boron Enrichment Plant at HWP, Manuguru. It is based on isotopic exchange between borate ions (B(OH) 4 - ) on anion exchange resin and boric acid passing through resin. The isotopic exchange takes place due to difference in zero point energy of 10 B and 11 B

Canned motor pumps at Heavy Water Project, Baroda

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batra, R.K.; Waishampayan, S.C.

1981-01-01

Pumps to be used in heavy water plants must be reliable and should require negligible maintenance, because most of them are totally unapproachable under normal circumstances. Canned motor pumps fulfil these requirements. Their design features are described briefly. The details of: (1) the pumps in the isotopic exchange tower and (2) pumps for liquid ammonia and catalyst are given. Problems faced during commissioning of such pumps in Baroda Heavy Water Project were bulging of rotors of tower pumps, bulging of stators, jamming and failure of bearings. Solution of these problems is described. (M.G.B.)

AMS of heavy radionuclides at ANTARES: status and plans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, A.M.; Fink, D.; Hotchkis, M.A.C.; Lawson, E.M.; Tuniz, C. [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)

1996-12-31

Long-lived radioisotopes are produced in the environment by cosmic ray interactions, natural radioactivity and through the use of nuclear technologies. Detection of trace amounts of anthropogenic isotopes by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a means of monitoring the safe operation of nuclear facilities and the presence of nuclear activities, however for heavy isotopes such measurements are difficult. This paper discusses the approach taken at ANTARES in developing AMS measurement capability for the actinides and summarises the current status of the project. 6 refs., 1 fig.

AMS of heavy radionuclides at ANTARES: status and plans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, A M; Fink, D; Hotchkis, M A.C.; Lawson, E M; Tuniz, C [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia)

1997-12-31

Long-lived radioisotopes are produced in the environment by cosmic ray interactions, natural radioactivity and through the use of nuclear technologies. Detection of trace amounts of anthropogenic isotopes by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a means of monitoring the safe operation of nuclear facilities and the presence of nuclear activities, however for heavy isotopes such measurements are difficult. This paper discusses the approach taken at ANTARES in developing AMS measurement capability for the actinides and summarises the current status of the project. 6 refs., 1 fig.

Isotopic yield measurement in the heavy mass region for 239Pu thermal neutron induced fission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bail, A.; Serot, O.; Mathieu, L.; Litaize, O.; Materna, T.; Koester, U.; Faust, H.; Letourneau, A.; Panebianco, S.

2011-01-01

Despite the huge number of fission yield data available in the different evaluated nuclear data libraries, such as JEFF-3.1.1, ENDF/B-VII.0, and JENDL-4.0, more accurate data are still needed both for nuclear energy applications and for our understanding of the fission process itself. It is within the framework of this that measurements on the recoil mass spectrometer Lohengrin (at the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France) was undertaken, to determine isotopic yields for the heavy fission products from the 239 Pu(n th ,f) reaction. In order to do this, a new experimental method based on γ-ray spectrometry was developed and validated by comparing our results with those performed in the light mass region with completely different setups. Hence, about 65 fission product yields were measured with an uncertainty that has been reduced on average by a factor of 2 compared to that previously available in the nuclear data libraries. In addition, for some fission products, a strongly deformed ionic charge distribution compared to a normal Gaussian shape was found, which was interpreted as being caused by the presence of a nanosecond isomeric state. Finally, a nuclear charge polarization has been observed in agreement, with the one described on other close fissioning systems.

Isotopic yield measurement in the heavy mass region for 239Pu thermal neutron induced fission

Science.gov (United States)

Bail, A.; Serot, O.; Mathieu, L.; Litaize, O.; Materna, T.; Köster, U.; Faust, H.; Letourneau, A.; Panebianco, S.

2011-09-01

Despite the huge number of fission yield data available in the different evaluated nuclear data libraries, such as JEFF-3.1.1, ENDF/B-VII.0, and JENDL-4.0, more accurate data are still needed both for nuclear energy applications and for our understanding of the fission process itself. It is within the framework of this that measurements on the recoil mass spectrometer Lohengrin (at the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France) was undertaken, to determine isotopic yields for the heavy fission products from the 239Pu(nth,f) reaction. In order to do this, a new experimental method based on γ-ray spectrometry was developed and validated by comparing our results with those performed in the light mass region with completely different setups. Hence, about 65 fission product yields were measured with an uncertainty that has been reduced on average by a factor of 2 compared to that previously available in the nuclear data libraries. In addition, for some fission products, a strongly deformed ionic charge distribution compared to a normal Gaussian shape was found, which was interpreted as being caused by the presence of a nanosecond isomeric state. Finally, a nuclear charge polarization has been observed in agreement, with the one described on other close fissioning systems.

Heavy water cycle in the CANDU reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nanis, R.

2000-01-01

Hydrogen atom has two isotopes: deuterium 1 H 2 and tritium 1 H 3 . The deuterium oxide D 2 O is called heavy water due to its density of 1105.2 Kg/m 3 . Another important physical property of the heavy water is the low neutron capture section, suitable to moderate the neutrons into natural uranium fission reactor as CANDU. Due to the fact that into this reactor the fuel is cooled into the pressure tubes surrounded by a moderator, the usage of D 2 O as primary heat transport (PHT) agent is mandatory. Therefore a large amount of heavy water (approx. 500 tons) is used in a CANDU reactor. Being a costly resource - it represents 20% of the initial plant capital cost, D 2 O management is required to preserve it. (author)

Utilization of stable isotopes in medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-11-01

The ten lectures given at this round table are presented together with a discussion. Five lectures, relating to studies in which deuterium oxide was employed as a tracer of body water, dealt with pulmonary water measurements in man and animals, the total water pool in adipose subjects, and liquid compartments in children undergoing hemodyalisis. The heavy water is analysed by infrared spectrometry and a new double spectrodoser is described. Two studies using 13 C as tracer, described the diagnosis of liver troubles and diabetes respectively. A general review of the perspectives of the application of stable isotopes in clinical medicine is followed by a comparison of the use of stable and radioactive isotopes in France [fr

On-line mass spectometry of nuclear reactions induced by heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saint Simon, M. de.

1977-01-01

The adaptation of the on-line mass-spectrometric technique to the special conditions of heavy ion induced reactions is described. The method is very selective about A and Z, even for the very heavy reaction products in counterpart of the limitation of its applications to the alkaline elements only. This method is used in order to study the effects of angular momentum brought by the projectile in the complete fusion process and in the following neutron evaporation. The analysis of excitation functions shows that the increase in mass of the projectile has not always the effect of increasing the rotation energy of the compound nucleus. The on-line mass spectrometry has allowed to study heavy ion induced fission. Measurements of complementary isotopic distributions of fission products make it possible to explain that the total number of neutrons emitted per fission can be always deduced from the fragment excitation energy. The study of the isotope distribution variance shows that the statistical model for fission is in good agreement with experimental results after taking into account the non-fusion processes [fr

Absolute determination of the deuterium content of heavy water, measurement of absolute density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ceccaldi, M.; Riedinger, M.; Menache, M.

1975-01-01

The absolute density of two heavy water samples rich in deuterium (with a grade higher than 99.9%) was determined with the hydrostatic method. The exact isotopic composition of this water (hydrogen and oxygen isotopes) was very carefully studied. A theoretical estimate enabled us to get the absolute density value of isotopically pure D 2 16 O. This value was found to be 1104.750 kg.m -3 at t 68 =22.3 0 C and under the pressure of one atmosphere. (orig.) [de

Isotopes in environmental research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bowen, G.; Rozanski, K.; Vose, P.

1990-01-01

Radioactive and stable isotopes have long been considered a very efficient tool for studying physical and biological aspects of how the global ecosystem functions. Their applications in environmental research are numerous, embracing research at all levels. This article looks at only a few of the approaches to environmental problems that involve the use of isotopes. Special attention is given to studies of the Amazon Basin. Environmental isotopes are very efficient tools in water cycle studies. Tritium, a radioactive tracer, is especially useful in studying dynamics of water movement in different compartments of the hydrosphere, both on the local and global scales. Heavy stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen (deuterium and oxygen-18) provide information about steady-state characteristics of the water cycle. Isotope methods, some relatively new, have a major role in site-specific studies. Some indicative examples include: Studying turnover of organic matter. Changes in the carbon-13/carbon-12 isotopic ratio of organic matter were used to determine the respective contributions of organic carbon derived from forest and pasture. Studying biological nitrogen fixation. One of the ways nitrogen levels in soil can be maintained for productivity is by biological nitrogen fixation. Studying nitrogen availability and losses. The experimental use of nitrogen-15 is invaluable for defining losses of soil nitrogen to the atmosphere and to groundwater. Studies can similarly be done with stable and radioactive sulphur isotopes. This article indicates some potential uses of isotopes in environmental research. While the major problem of global climate change has not been specifically addressed here, the clearing of the Amazon forest, one focus of the IAEA's environmental programme, may have serious consequences for the global climate. These include substantial reduction of the amount of latent heat transported to the regions outside the tropics and acceleration of the greenhouse

Critical overview on water - hydrogen isotopic exchange; a case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peculea, Marius

2002-01-01

Water - hydrogen isotopic exchange process is attractive due to its high separation factor; it is neither corrosive or pollutant and, when used as a technological process of heavy water production, it requires water as raw material. Its efficiency depends strongly on the catalyst performance and geometry of the isotopic water - hydrogen exchange zone in which the isotopic transfer proceeds in two steps: liquid vapor distillation in the presence of an inert gas and a catalytic reaction in vapor - gas gaseous phase. An overview of the water hydrogen isotopic exchange is presented and technological details of the Trail - Canada facility as well as characteristics of the two pilots operated in Romania with Ni, Cr and hydrophobic catalysts are described. The mathematical approach of the successive water-water vapor-hydrogen isotopic exchange process given is based on a mathematical model worked out earlier by Palibroda. Discrepancies between computation and experimental results, lower than 11% for extreme cases and around 6% for the average range are explained as due to the ratio of the exchange potentials. Assumption is made in the theoretical approach that this ratio is positive and constant all long the column while the measurements showed that it varies within 0.7 and 1.1 at the upper end and within - 2.5 and - 4.4 at the lower end, what indicates a strong end effect. In conclusion it is stressed that a competing technological solution is emerging based on a monothermal electrolytic process or a bithermal - bibaric process both for heavy water and tritium separation process

Interactions between surface waters in King George Island, Antarctica - a stable isotope perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Perşoiu, Aurel; Bădăluşă, Carmen

2017-04-01

In this paper we present a first study of the isotopic composition of surface waters in the southern peninsulas (Barton, Fildes, Weaver and Potter) of King George Island, Antarctica. We have collected > 200 samples of snow and snowmelt, water (lake, river and spring), ice (glacier ice and permafrost) from the four peninsulas in February 2016 and analyzed them for their oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopic composition. Samples from lake water (50+) indicate a clear west-east depletion trend, suggesting a rain-out process as air masses are moving westward (and are progressively depleted in heavy isotopes) from their origin in the Drake Passage. In both Fildes and Barton Peninsulas, permafrost samples have the heaviest isotopic composition, most probably due to preferential incorporation of heavy isotopes in the ice during freezing (and no fractionation during melting). As permafrost melts, the resulting water mixes with isotopically lighter infiltrated snowmelt, and thus the groundwater has a lower isotopic composition. Further, lake and river (the later fed by lakes) water has the lightest isotopic composition, being derived mostly from the melting of light snow and glacier ice. It seems feasible to separate isotopically water in lakes/rivers (largely fed by melting multi-year glaciers and snow) and water from melting of snow/ground ice This preliminary study suggests that it is possible to separate various water sources in the southern peninsulas of King George Island, and this separation could be used to study permafrost degradation, as well as feeding and migration patterns in the bird fauna, with implications for protection purposes. Acknowledgments. The National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences (Bucharest, Romania) and the Korean polar institute financially supported fieldwork in King George Island. We thank the personal at King Sejong (South Korea), Belingshaussen (Russia) and Carlini (Argentina) stations in King George Island for

Fractionation of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes at the hydrate gas forming in the sea sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pashkina, V.I.; Esikov, A.D.

1990-01-01

The paper gives data on isotope composition of interstitial and near-bottom waters sampled in a region of gas-hydrate formation in the Sea of Okhotsk. The studies show that heavy isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen is used in gas-hydrate formation, with the result that isotope composition of its constitution water constitutes δ 18 O=+1.99per mille, δD=+23per mille relatively to SMOW. Formation of autogenic carbonates leads to isotope exchange with interstitial water wich, in turn, changes its primary isotope composition in the direction of increasing of O-18 content. The near-bottom waters are isotope-light relatively to the SMOW standard and to the mean isotope composition of interstitial water in the studied region of gas-hydrate spreading. (orig.) [de

Investigating the effects of abyssal peridotite alteration on Si, Mg and Zn isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Savage, P. S.; Wimpenny, J.; Harvey, J.; Yin, Q.; Moynier, F.

2013-12-01

Around 1/3 of Earth's divergent ridge system is now classified as "slow" spreading [1], exposing ultramafic rocks (abyssal peridotites) at the seafloor. Such material is often highly altered by serpentinisation and steatisation (talc formation). It is crucial to understand such processes in order to access the original composition of the mantle, and to quantify any impact on ocean composition. Here we examine the effect of both serpentinisation and steatisation on Si, Mg and Zn isotopes. Hydrothermal alteration and seafloor weathering are both sources of oceanic Si [2] and weathering of abyssal peridotites is a source of oceanic Mg [3]; hence isotopic fractionation as a result of seafloor alteration could affect oceanic Si and Mg isotope composition. Zinc isotopes can provide complimentary information; the magnitude and direction of fractionation is highly dependent on complexing ligand [4] and can provide compositional information on the fluids driving metasomatism. For this study, two cores from the well-characterised abyssal peridotites recovered on ODP Leg 209 were examined [5]. Hole 1274a peridotites exhibit variable serpentinisation at ~200°C, whereas samples from Hole 1268a have been comprehensively serpentinised and then subsequently steatised to talc facies at ~350°C, by a low Mg/Si, low pH fluid. The Si, Mg and Zn isotope compositions of 1274a samples are extremely homogeneous, identical to that of pristine mantle rocks (BSE) i.e., serpentinisation at this locality was predominantly isochemical [5]. In contrast, samples from 1268a show greater isotopic variability. In all samples, Mg is enriched in the heavier isotopes relative to BSE, consistent with formation of isotopically heavy secondary phases [6]. For Si, serpentinised samples are slightly enriched in the lighter isotopes compared to BSE, again consistent with the behaviour of Si during formation of secondary phases [7]. Within the steatised samples, some exhibit enrichments in the lighter Si

Isotope hydrology in Latin America

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Payne, B R [International Atomic Energy Agency, Division of Research and Laboratories, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna (Austria)

1972-07-01

A wide variety of problems in hydrology have proved susceptible to the use of nuclear techniques. Conclusions may be drawn from the relative abundances of certain 'environmental isotopes', such as heavy stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules, tritium, carbon-14 and silicon-32, in atmospheric, surface or ground water; origin and rate of flow, for example, may be deduced. Artificial radioisotopes may be used similarly as a logical extension to well-known tracer techniques using dyes and salts. Inherent in the use of such radiotracers are the advantages of very high detection sensitivity (and thus very low required concentrations and the elimination of density effects), and a choice of a variety of nuclides alien to the geohydrological system (and hence unique identification and low background). (author)

Mass-dependent and non-mass-dependent isotope effects in ozone photolysis: Resolving theory and experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cole, Amanda S.; Boering, Kristie A.

2006-01-01

In addition to the anomalous 17 O and 18 O isotope effects in the three-body ozone formation reaction O+O 2 +M, isotope effects in the destruction of ozone by photolysis may also play a role in determining the isotopic composition of ozone and other trace gases in the atmosphere. While previous experiments on ozone photolysis at 254 nm were interpreted as evidence for preferential loss of light ozone that is anomalous (or 'non-mass-dependent'), recent semiempirical theoretical calculations predicted a preferential loss of heavy ozone at that wavelength that is mass dependent. Through photochemical modeling results presented here, we resolve this apparent contradiction between experiment and theory. Specifically, we show that the formation of ozone during the UV photolysis experiments is not negligible, as had been assumed, and that the well-known non-mass-dependent isotope effects in ozone formation can account for the non-mass-dependent enrichment of the heavy isotopologs of ozone observed in the experiment. Thus, no unusual non-mass-dependent fractionation in ozone photolysis must be invoked to explain the experimental results. Furthermore, we show that theoretical predictions of a mass-dependent preferential loss of the heavy isotopologs of ozone during UV photolysis are not inconsistent with the experimental data, particularly if mass-dependent isotope effects in the chemical loss reactions of ozone during the photolysis experiments or experimental artifacts enrich the remaining ozone in 17 O and 18 O. Before the calculated fractionation factors can be quantitatively evaluated, however, further investigation of possible mass-dependent isotope effects in the reactions of ozone with O( 1 D), O( 3 P), O 2 ( 1 Δ), and O 2 ( 1 Σ) is needed through experiments we suggest here

Heavy metals and Pb isotopic composition of aerosols in urban and suburban areas of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, South China—Evidence of the long-range transport of air contaminants

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Celine S. L.; Li, Xiang-Dong; Zhang, Gan; Li, Jun; Ding, Ai-Jun; Wang, Tao

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in South China has placed great strain on the environment and on human health. In the present study, the total suspended particulate matter (TSP) in the urban and suburban areas of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the two largest urban centres in South China, was sampled from December 2003 to January 2005. The samples were analysed for the concentrations of major elements (Al, Fe, Mg and Mn) and trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, V and Zn), and for Pb isotopic composition. Elevated concentrations of metals, especially Cd, Pb, V and Zn, were observed in the urban and suburban areas of Guangzhou, showing significant atmospheric trace element pollution. Distinct seasonal patterns were observed in the heavy metal concentrations of aerosols in Hong Kong, with higher metal concentrations during the winter monsoon period, and lower concentrations during summertime. The seasonal variations in the metal concentrations of the aerosols in Guangzhou were less distinct, suggesting the dominance of local sources of pollution around the city. The Pb isotopic composition in the aerosols of Hong Kong had higher 206Pb/ 207Pb and 208Pb/ 207Pb ratios in winter, showing the influence of Pb from the northern inland areas of China and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, and lower 206Pb/ 207Pb and 208Pb/ 207Pb ratios in summer, indicating the influence of Pb from the South Asian region and from marine sources. The back trajectory analysis showed that the enrichment of heavy metals in Hong Kong and Guangzhou was closely associated with the air mass from the north and northeast that originated from northern China, reflecting the long-range transport of heavy metal contaminants from the northern inland areas of China to the South China coast.

PLANETARY-SCALE STRONTIUM ISOTOPIC HETEROGENEITY AND THE AGE OF VOLATILE DEPLETION OF EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM MATERIALS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moynier, Frederic; Podosek, Frank A. [Department of Earth and Planetary Science and McDonnell Center for Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States); Day, James M. D. [Geosciences Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093-0244 (United States); Okui, Wataru; Yokoyama, Tetsuya [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan); Bouvier, Audrey [Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0231 (United States); Walker, Richard J., E-mail: moynier@levee.wustl.edu, E-mail: fap@levee.wustl.edu, E-mail: jmdday@ucsd.edu, E-mail: rjwalker@umd.edu, E-mail: okui.w.aa@m.titech.ac.jp, E-mail: tetsuya.yoko@geo.titech.ac.jp, E-mail: abouvier@umn.edu [Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

2012-10-10

Isotopic anomalies in planetary materials reflect both early solar nebular heterogeneity inherited from presolar stellar sources and processes that generated non-mass-dependent isotopic fractionations. The characterization of isotopic variations in heavy elements among early solar system materials yields important insight into the stellar environment and formation of the solar system, and about initial isotopic ratios relevant to long-term chronological applications. One such heavy element, strontium, is a central element in the geosciences due to wide application of the long-lived {sup 87}Rb-{sup 87}Sr radioactive as a chronometer. We show that the stable isotopes of Sr were heterogeneously distributed at both the mineral scale and the planetary scale in the early solar system, and also that the Sr isotopic heterogeneities correlate with mass-independent oxygen isotope variations, with only CI chondrites plotting outside of this correlation. The correlation implies that most solar system material formed by mixing of at least two isotopically distinct components: a CV-chondrite-like component and an O-chondrite-like component, and possibly a distinct CI-chondrite-like component. The heterogeneous distribution of Sr isotopes may indicate that variations in initial {sup 87}Sr/{sup 86}Sr of early solar system materials reflect isotopic heterogeneity instead of having chronological significance, as interpreted previously. For example, given the differences in {sup 84}Sr/{sup 86}Sr between calcium aluminum inclusions and eucrites ({epsilon}{sup 84}Sr > 2), the difference in age between these materials would be {approx}6 Ma shorter than previously interpreted, placing the Sr chronology in agreement with other long- and short-lived isotope systems, such as U-Pb and Mn-Cr.

Alternate applications of heavy water in biological and technological fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhaskaran, M.; Prakash, R.

2005-01-01

Deuterium and its various compounds like heavy water exhibit distinctly different properties when compared to hydrogen and its compounds. The differences in properties are due to the primary and secondary isotopic effects. Though heavy water has been used solely for nuclear applications so far, its applications in life sciences and high technology areas are fast emerging. Heavy Water Board has taken up development of alternate applications of heavy water. The study taken up has indicated superior thermal stability for oral polio vaccine prepared in heavy water. This study has revealed various opportunities for application of heavy water or deuterium in life sciences and the paper dwells on these possibilities. The higher stability of compounds with deuterium has also brought in its applications in various high technology areas. These are mainly in micro electronics. Use of deuterium in manufacture of high quality optical fibres has already been established. These are also included in the paper. (author)

Multiple heavy-fragment breakup reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelte, D.

1986-01-01

Data for heavy ion breakup reactions for projectiles between silicon 28 and argon 40 and targets between carbon 12 and zirconium 90 in the energy range 7 to 15 MeV/n are presented. The experimental method used to cope with the complexity of the exit channels in these reactions is discussed. Data on cross sections, isotopic distribution, charge distribution, energy dependence, Q-value and angular momentum of the target are discussed in relationship to model predictions

Oxidative release of chromium from Archean ultramafic rocks, its transport and environmental impact – A Cr isotope perspective on the Sukinda valley ore district (Orissa, India)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paulukat, Cora Stefanie; Døssing, Lasse Nørbye; Mondal, Sisir K.

2015-01-01

to negatively fractionated values as low as δ53Cr = −1.29 ± 0.04‰. Local surface waters are isotopically heavy relative to the soils. This supports the hypothesis that during oxidative weathering isotopically heavy Cr(VI) is leached from the soils to runoff. The impact of mining pollution is observed downstream...... in controlling the hazardous impact of Cr(VI) on health and environment. The positive Cr isotope signatures of the Brahmani estuary and coastal seawater collected from the Bay of Bengal further indicate that the positively fractionated Cr isotope signal from the catchment area is preserved during its transport...

The projects for heavy water production of the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia Bourg, J.M.; Garcia, E.E.

1982-01-01

The bases and scope of the projects for heavy water production that are being currently developed by the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) are described. As an introduction, the following points are presented: a) the fundamentals of heavy water utilization in a nuclear reactor, with a mention of its properties and uses, b) a review of the physicochemical bases of the principal methods for heavy water production: chemical exchange (monothermal and bithermal processes), distillation and electrolysis, with tables summarizing the fundamental characteristics of the first two ones, and an evaluation of the different production methods from the viewpoint of their application in an industrial scale; and c) a synthetic information, in the form of tables, about the world's heavy water production. The subject of heavy water production in Argentina is treated in the principal section, describing the scope, location, main characteristics and chemical processes corresponding to the projects being developed by CNEA, which currently are the installation of an Industrial Plant in Arroyito (Province of Neuquen), purchased on a turnkey basis and using the NH 3 /H 2 isotopic exchange method; the installation of an Experimental Plant in Atucha (Province of Buenos Aires), for the development of the domestic technology of heavy-water production by the SH 2 /H 2 O isotopic exchange method, and the development of the engineering of an industrial plant (''Module 80''), based on the Experimental Plant's technology. (M.E.L.) [es

Consequences of potential accidents in heavy water plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Croitoru, C.; Lazar, R.E.; Preda, I.A.; Dumitrescu, M.

2002-01-01

Heavy water plants achieve the primary isotopic concentration by H 2 O-H 2 S chemical exchange. In these plants are stored large quantities of hydrogen sulphide (high toxic, corrosive, flammable and explosive) maintained in process at relative high temperatures and pressures. It is required an assessment of risks associated with the potential accidents. The paper presents adopted model for quantitative consequences assessment in heavy water plants. Following five basic steps are used to identify the risks involved in plants operation: hazard identification, accident sequences development, H 2 S emissions calculus, dispersion analyses and consequences determination. A brief description of each step and some information from risk assessment for our heavy water pilot plant are provided. Accident magnitude, atmospheric conditions and population density in studied area were accounted for consequences calculus. (author)

Deuterium isotope composition of palaeoinfiltration water trapped in speleothems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rozanski, K.

1987-05-01

Analytical and methodological aspects of combined isotope investigations of carbonate cave deposits are thoroughly discussed in the report. Weight is put on isotope analyses of fluid inclusions (D and 18 O content) extracted from speleothems of known age. Dating was done by the 230 Th/ 234 U ratio method. Isotopic analyses of speleothems originating from European caves allowed some important conclusions to be formulated regarding past climatic and environmental conditions prevailing over the European continent during the last 300,000 yrs: a) δD values of fluid inclusions suggest a remarkable constancy of the heavy-isotope content of European palaeoinfiltration waters recharged during interglacial periods, b) a climate-induced, long-term changes in isotopic composition of precipitation and surface air temperature over Europe can be characterized by the deuterium gradient of ca.1 4 deg./oo/deg. C, c) an apparent constancy of the continental gradient in deuterium content of European palaeoinfiltration waters as judged from the fluid inclusion data suggests that atmospheric circulation over Europe did not undergo substantial changes for at least 300,000 years

Masses of new isotopes in the fp shell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davids, C.N.

1979-01-01

A total of four new neutron-rich isotopes were studied including 53 Ti, 57 Cr, 59 Mn, and 60 Mn. The bombardment of 58 Ni by various heavy ion beams resulted in the discovery of proton-rich 67 As and permitted extensive measurements of the superallowed decays of 62 Ge, 66 As, and 70 Br. 13 references

Magnesium Isotopes as a Tracer of Crustal Materials in Volcanic Arc Magmas in the Northern Cascade Arc

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aaron W. Brewer

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Fifteen North Cascade Arc basalts and andesites were analyzed for Mg isotopes to investigate the extent and manner of crustal contributions to this magmatic system. The δ26Mg of these samples vary from within the range of ocean island basalts (the lightest being −0.33 ± 0.07‰ to heavier compositions (as heavy as −0.15 ± 0.06‰. The observed range in chemical and isotopic composition is similar to that of other volcanic arcs that have been assessed to date in the circum-pacific subduction zones and in the Caribbean. The heavy Mg isotope compositions are best explained by assimilation and fractional crystallization within the deep continental crust with a possible minor contribution from the addition of subducting slab-derived fluids to the primitive magma. The bulk mixing of sediment into the primitive magma or mantle source and the partial melting of garnet-rich peridotite are unlikely to have produced the observed range of Mg isotope compositions. The results show that Mg isotopes may be a useful tracer of crustal input into a magma, supplementing traditional methods such as radiogenic isotopic and trace element data, particularly in cases in which a high fraction of crustal material has been added.

Experimental Study on Behavior of Bow-tie Tree Generation by Using Heavy Water

Science.gov (United States)

Kumazawa, Takao; Nakagawa, Wataru; Tsurumaru, Hidekazu

Bow-tie tree (BTT) generated from contaminant, e.g., metal, carbon, amber(over cured resin) or void in insulator is a significant deterioration factor of XLPE power cable. However, essential role of water in generation and progress of BTT is not yet sufficiently cleared. In order to investigate the role of water we paid attention to difference in chemical properties of light water (H2O) and heavy water (D2O), moreover we evaluated influence of isotopic effect due to hydrogen and deuterium on behavior of BTT generation. In accelerated aging test the number of BTT in XLPE sample, in which copper powder of 500ppm was contaminated as BTT cores, dipped in heavy water (D2O:100wt%) decreased to one third compared with light water(D2O:0wt%). Furthermore, the maximum length of BTT decreased with increase in concentration of heavy water. The experimental results show that heavy water exerted a depression effect on generation and progress of BTT. We considered that the depression effect due to hydrogen isotope appeared by inhibiting ionization and elution of BTT cores, because salt-solubility and ionic mobility of heavy water are about 15 to 20% smaller than those of light water. Therefore, the essential role of water seemed to be production and transport of ions in XLPE.

Structure of the neutron-rich lithium isotopes in heavy-ion reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bespalova, O.V.; Galakhmatova, B.S.; Romanovskij, E.A.; Shitikova, K.V.; Burov, V.V.; Rzyanin, M.V.; Miller, H.G.; Yen, G.D.

1993-01-01

The structure properties, for factors, angular distributions and interaction cross sections of Li neutron-rich isotopes have been analyzed in the unified way. A good qualitative agreement with the experiment data was obtained. 20 refs.; 11 figs.; 1 tab

Silicon isotopes in angrites and volatile loss in planetesimals

Science.gov (United States)

Moynier, Frédéric; Savage, Paul S.; Badro, James; Barrat, Jean-Alix

2014-01-01

Inner solar system bodies, including the Earth, Moon, and asteroids, are depleted in volatile elements relative to chondrites. Hypotheses for this volatile element depletion include incomplete condensation from the solar nebula and volatile loss during energetic impacts. These processes are expected to each produce characteristic stable isotope signatures. However, processes of planetary differentiation may also modify the isotopic composition of geochemical reservoirs. Angrites are rare meteorites that crystallized only a few million years after calcium–aluminum-rich inclusions and exhibit extreme depletions in volatile elements relative to chondrites, making them ideal samples with which to study volatile element depletion in the early solar system. Here we present high-precision Si isotope data that show angrites are enriched in the heavy isotopes of Si relative to chondritic meteorites by 50–100 ppm/amu. Silicon is sufficiently volatile such that it may be isotopically fractionated during incomplete condensation or evaporative mass loss, but theoretical calculations and experimental results also predict isotope fractionation under specific conditions of metal–silicate differentiation. We show that the Si isotope composition of angrites cannot be explained by any plausible core formation scenario, but rather reflects isotope fractionation during impact-induced evaporation. Our results indicate planetesimals initially formed from volatile-rich material and were subsequently depleted in volatile elements during accretion. PMID:25404309

Factors controlling stable isotope composition of European precipitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rozanski, K.; Sonntag, C.; Muennich, K.O.

1982-01-01

The seasonal and spatial variations of stable isotope ratios in present day European precipitation are simulated with a simple multibox model of the mean west-east horizontal transport of the atmospheric water vapour across the European continent. Isotope fractionation during the formation of precipitation leads to an increasing depletion of heavy isotopes in the residual air moisture as it moves towards the centre of the continent. This isotopic depletion is partly compensated, particularly in summer, by evapotranspiration, which is assumed to transfer soil water into the atmosphere without isotope fractionation. The model estimates are based on horizontal water vapour flux data, varying seasonally between 88 and 130 kg m -1 s -1 for the Atlantic coast region, and on the monthly precipitation, evapotranspiration and surface air temperature data available for various locations in Europe. Both continental and seasonal temperature effects observed in the stable isotope composition of European precipitation are fairly well reproduced by the model. The calculations show that the isotopic composition of local precipitation is primarily controlled by regional scale processes, i.e. by the water vapour transport patterns into the continent, and by the average precipitation-evapotranspiration history of the air masses precipitating at a given place. Local parameters such as the surface and/or cloud base temperature or the amount of precipitation modify the isotope ratios only slightly. Implications of the model predictions for the interpretation of stable isotope ratios in earlier periods as they are preserved in ice cores and in groundwater are also discussed. (Auth.)

Stable platinum isotope measurements in presolar nanodiamonds by TEAMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallner, A.; Melber, K.; Merchel, S.; Ott, U.; Forstner, O.; Golser, R.; Kutschera, W.; Priller, A.; Steier, P.

2013-01-01

Nanodiamonds are stardust grains commonly found in primitive meteorites. They survived the formation of the solar system and kept their own individuality. Measurements of trace-element isotopic signatures in these grains will help understanding heavy element nucleosynthesis in massive stars and dust formation from their ejecta. We have continued previous attempts to search for stable Pt isotope anomalies in nanodiamonds via trace element accelerator mass spectrometry (TEAMS). The installation of a new injector beam line at the VERA facility allowed studying low traces of stable elements in different materials. Moreover, recent experiments showed that VERA provides the required measurement precision together with a low Pt machine background. Here, we observed for the first time an indication for enhancements of 198 Pt/ 195 Pt isotope ratios in two diamond residues prepared by different chemical separation techniques from the Allende meteorite. Variations in other isotopic ratios were within analytical uncertainty, and no anomaly was identified in a third diamond fraction.

Stable platinum isotope measurements in presolar nanodiamonds by TEAMS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wallner, A., E-mail: anton.wallner@univie.ac.at [University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Waehringer Strasse 17, A-1090 Vienna (Austria); Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra (Australia); Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights (Australia); Melber, K. [University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Waehringer Strasse 17, A-1090 Vienna (Austria); Merchel, S. [Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), D-01314 Dresden (Germany); Ott, U. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Chemie, Joh.-J.-Becherweg 27, D-55128 Mainz (Germany); Forstner, O.; Golser, R.; Kutschera, W.; Priller, A.; Steier, P. [University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Waehringer Strasse 17, A-1090 Vienna (Austria)

2013-01-15

Nanodiamonds are stardust grains commonly found in primitive meteorites. They survived the formation of the solar system and kept their own individuality. Measurements of trace-element isotopic signatures in these grains will help understanding heavy element nucleosynthesis in massive stars and dust formation from their ejecta. We have continued previous attempts to search for stable Pt isotope anomalies in nanodiamonds via trace element accelerator mass spectrometry (TEAMS). The installation of a new injector beam line at the VERA facility allowed studying low traces of stable elements in different materials. Moreover, recent experiments showed that VERA provides the required measurement precision together with a low Pt machine background. Here, we observed for the first time an indication for enhancements of {sup 198}Pt/{sup 195}Pt isotope ratios in two diamond residues prepared by different chemical separation techniques from the Allende meteorite. Variations in other isotopic ratios were within analytical uncertainty, and no anomaly was identified in a third diamond fraction.

Systematics of the electric dipole response in stable tin isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Bassauer, Sergej; von Neumann-Cosel, Peter; Tamii, Atsushi

2018-05-01

The electric dipole is an important property of heavy nuclei. Precise information on the electric dipole response provides information on the electric dipole polarisability which in turn allows to extract important constraints on neutron-skin thickness in heavy nuclei and parameters of the symmetry energy. The tin isotope chain is particularly suited for a systematic study of the dependence of the electric dipole response on neutron excess as it provides a wide mass range of accessible isotopes with little change of the underlying structure. Recently an inelastic proton scattering experiment under forward angles including 0º on 112,116,124Sn was performed at the Research Centre for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Japan with a focus on the low-energy dipole strength and the polarisability. First results are presented here. Using data from an earlier proton scattering experiment on 120Sn the gamma strength function and level density are determined for this nucleus.

Systematics of the electric dipole response in stable tin isotopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bassauer Sergej

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The electric dipole is an important property of heavy nuclei. Precise information on the electric dipole response provides information on the electric dipole polarisability which in turn allows to extract important constraints on neutron-skin thickness in heavy nuclei and parameters of the symmetry energy. The tin isotope chain is particularly suited for a systematic study of the dependence of the electric dipole response on neutron excess as it provides a wide mass range of accessible isotopes with little change of the underlying structure. Recently an inelastic proton scattering experiment under forward angles including 0º on 112,116,124Sn was performed at the Research Centre for Nuclear Physics (RCNP, Japan with a focus on the low-energy dipole strength and the polarisability. First results are presented here. Using data from an earlier proton scattering experiment on 120Sn the gamma strength function and level density are determined for this nucleus.

Isotopic study of the Continental Intercalaire aquifer and its relationship with other aquifers of the northern Sahara

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonfiantini, R.; Sauzay, G.; Payne, B.R.; Conrad, G.; Fontes, J.Ch.

1974-01-01

The Northern Sahara contains several aquifers, the largest of which is that of the Continental Intercalaire formations. In its eastern part the aquifer is confined and presents a very homogeneous isotopic composition. The 14 C activity is low or zero except in the outcrop zones of the north (Saharan Atlas), the east (Dahar) and the south (Tinrhert), all of which are recharge zones. In these areas the isotopic composition does not differ appreciably from that of the old water in the confined part of the aquifer. In the western part, where the reservoir outcrops widely, the 14 C activities show the extent of the local recharge. The heavy isotope content indicates the overflow of the surface aquifer of the western Grand Erg into the Continental Intercalaire over the whole Gourara front. The mixtures thus formed pass under the Tademait and drain towards the Touat. In the resurgence zone of the Gulf of G abes in Tunisia the heavy-isotope content confirms the recharging of the aquifer of the Complex terminal by drainage of water from the Continental Intercalaire through the El-Hamma fault system. The water then runs eastwards, mixing with local contributions. The marine Miocene confined aquifer of Zarzis-Djerba in the Gulf of Gabes receives no contribution from the Continental Intercalaire. The water in the aquifer of the western Grand Erg indicates an evaporation mechanism, probably peculiar to the dune systems, which gives rise to heavy-isotope enrichment compared with the recharge of other types of formations. (author) [fr

One-century sedimentary record of heavy metal pollution in western Taihu Lake, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Zhou, Shenglu; Zhu, Qing; Li, Baojie; Wang, Junxiao; Wang, Chunhui; Chen, Lian; Wu, Shaohua

2018-05-16

Long-term trends of sediment compositions are important for assessing the impact of human activities on the sediment and protecting the sediment environment. In this study, based on the contents of heavy metals and the Pb isotope ratios in lake sediments, atmospheric dustfall and soil in Yixing, China, the representative heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cr and Cd) in lake sediments from western Taihu Lake were studied. The evolution history of heavy metals in the local environment was constructed for the past 100 years. From 1892 to the 1990s, the anthropogenic fluxes of the representative heavy metals were negligible, indicating minimal anthropogenic emissions of heavy metals. Since the 1990s, anthropogenic fluxes of the representative heavy metals began to increase, concurrent with the economic growth and development in the western Taihu Lake Basin after the Chinese economic reform. The maximum flux percentage of the heavy metals in the sediments, caused by human activities, is 23.0% for Zn, 31.6% for Pb, 39.5% for Cr and 85.3% for Cd, indicating that most of the Cd comes from human activities. The Cd content in the western Taihu Lake Basin was significantly higher than that in the other areas, and the rapid development of the industry in the western Taihu Lake Basin and ceramics in Yixing led to the enrichment of heavy metals in local sediments. Since the 21st century, measures have been taken to control the pollution of heavy metals, including the increase in local government attention and the deployment of environmental monitoring technology. However, heavy metal content remains high, and the Pb content is still increasing. The ratios of Pb isotopes show that the main sources of heavy metals in the western Taihu Lake sediments, the local soil of Yixing and the atmospheric dustfall are coal combustion, leaded gasoline combustion, industrial wastewater and domestic sewage. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background levels of heavy metals in surficial sediments of the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean): An approach based on 133Cs normalization and lead isotope measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roussiez, Vincent; Ludwig, Wolfgang; Probst, Jean-Luc; Monaco, Andre

2005-01-01

This paper presents an attempt to reach natural background levels of heavy metals in surficial sediments of the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean). To correct for the grain-size effect, normalization procedures based on a clay mineral indicator element are commonly used, after a first grain size separation by sieving. In our study, we tested the applicability of this method with respect to commonly used normalizer elements, and found that stable Cs shows the best ability to reflect the fine sediment fraction. Background levels were successfully reached for Co, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb, compared to various literature references. Nevertheless, in the case of lead, the normalized data depicted a general enrichment in all samples, and the natural levels could only be reached when concentrations were corrected for the atmospheric contribution by analysing lead isotope ratios. Also for Zn, a general enrichment was found in our samples, although less important. - Among several potential normalizers, stable Cs ( 133 Cs) depicted the best ability to correct for the grain-size effect of shelf sediments and was used to estimate regional background levels of heavy metals

Using Stable Isotopes to Detect Land Use Change and Nitrogen Sources in Aquatic Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogers, K. M. [National Isotope Center, GNS Science, Lower Hutt (New Zealand)

2013-05-15

Changing land use is one of the primary causes of increased sedimentation and nutrient levels in aquatic systems, resulting in contamination and reduction of biodiversity. Detecting and quantifying these inputs is the first step towards remediation, and enabling targeted reductions of transport processes into waterways from human impacted land surfaces. More recently, stable isotope analyses are being used as detection and quantification tools in aquatic environments. Carbon ({delta}{sup 13}C) and nitrogen ({delta}{sup 15}N) isotopes of sediments, as well as algae and invertebrates from aquatic systems can be used as proxies to record both short and long term environmental change. Excess nitrogen (or nitrogen-compounds) derived from urbanization, industry, forestry, farming and agriculture, increase the bioavailability of nitrogen to aquatic organisms, changing their natural {delta}15N isotopic signatures. Allochthonous (terrestrial) input from soil destabilization and human activity in surrounding catchments changes {delta}{sup 13}C isotopic compositions and increases the C:N ratio of sediments. Heavy metal and other organic pollutants can also be used to indicate urbanization and industrial contamination. The combined use of carbon and nitrogen isotopes, C:N ratios and heavy metals are powerful environmental monitoring tools, which are useful indicators of source and transport pathways of terrestrial derived material and anthropogenic pollutants into streams, rivers and estuaries. (author)

Accelerator mass spectrometry of heavy elements: /sup 36/Cl to /sup 205/Pb

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Henning, W

1987-08-25

Measurements are discussed in which the technique of accelerator mass spectrometry was applied to problems involving heavy radioisotopes. These measurements, which depend on the ion energies that can be reached with the new heavy-ion accelerator facilities, were performed at the Argonne tandem linac accelerator system (ATLAS) and at the UNILAC accelerator at GSI. The topics include a discussion of measurements of long nuclear lifetimes, of radioisotope detection of interest to solar neutrino experiments, and of a determination of the /sup 41/Ca concentration in natural samples of terrestrial origin by making use of isotopic pre-enrichment in an isotope separator. A long-known method of isobar separation, employing a gas-filled magnetic field region, has been revived for some of these measurements and its characteristics and advantages are briefly reviewed.

On the Effect of Planetary Stable Isotope Compositions on Growth and Survival of Terrestrial Organisms.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xueshu Xie

Full Text Available Isotopic compositions of reactants affect the rates of chemical and biochemical reactions. Usually it is assumed that heavy stable isotope enrichment leads to progressively slower reactions. Yet the effect of stable isotopes may be nonlinear, as exemplified by the "isotopic resonance" phenomenon. Since the isotopic compositions of other planets of Solar system, including Mars and Venus, are markedly different from terrestrial (e.g., deuterium content is ≈5 and ≈100 times higher, respectively, it is far from certain that terrestrial life will thrive in these isotopic conditions. Here we found that Martian deuterium content negatively affected survival of shrimp in semi-closed biosphere on a year-long time scale. Moreover, the bacterium Escherichia coli grows slower at Martian isotopic compositions and even slower at Venus's compositions. Thus, the biological impact of varying stable isotope compositions needs to be taken into account when planning interplanetary missions.

Locally Grown, Natural Ingredients? The Isotope Ratio Can Reveal a Lot!

Science.gov (United States)

Rossier, Joël S; Maury, Valérie; Pfammatter, Elmar

2016-01-01

This communication gives an overview of selected isotope analyses applied to food authenticity assessment. Different isotope ratio detection technologies such as isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS) are briefly described. It will be explained how δ(18)O of water contained in fruits and vegetables can be used to assess their country of production. It will be explained why asparagus grown in Valais, in the centre of the Alps carries much less heavy water than asparagus grown closer to the sea coast. On the other hand, the use of δ(13)C can reveal whether a product is natural or adulterated. Applications including honey or sparkling wine adulteration detection will be briefly presented.

Cluster radioactivity of Z=125 super heavy nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manjunatha, H.C.; Seenappa, L.

2015-01-01

For atomic numbers larger than 121 cluster decay and spontaneous fission may compete with α decay. Hence there is a need to make reliable calculations for the cluster decay half-lives of superheavy nuclei to predict the possible isotopes super heavy nuclei. So, in the present work, we have studied the decay of clusters such as 8 Be, 10 Be, 12 C, 14 C, 16 C, 18 O, 20 O, 22 Ne, 24 Ne, 25 Ne, 26 Ne, 28 Mg, 30 Mg, 32 Si, 34 Si, 36 Si, 40 S, 48 Ca, 50 Ca and 52 Ti from the super heavy nuclei Z=125

Contingency of alpha decay in 287-306120 isotopes of SHE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carmel Vigila Bai, G.M.; Umai Parvathiy, J.

2014-01-01

In recent years the synthesis and identification of super heavy nuclei has a particular attention in the field of nuclear physics. Many theoretical calculations have been done to study the properties of even-Z Super heavy elements (SHE). Durate et al. applied the effective liquid drop model to predict the alpha decay, cluster emission and cold fission half-life values of nuclei on the region of super heavy elements, defined by 155 ≤ N ≤ 220 and 110 ≤ Z ≤ 135. In the case of super heavy elements spontaneous fission and alpha decay are the main decay modes. Super heavy nuclei which have relatively small alpha decay half times compared to spontaneous fission half lives will survive fission and thus can be detected in the laboratory through α-decay. The present paper aims to predict possibility of alpha decay in the element Z = 120 isotopes using CYE model and the spontaneous fission half lives are computed using the phenomenological formula

BIPAL - a data library for computing the burnup of fissionable isotopes and products of their decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kralovcova, E.; Hep, J.; Valenta, V.

1978-01-01

The BIPAL databank contains data on 100 heavy metal isotopes starting with 206 Tl and finishing with 253 Es. Four are stable, the others are unstable. The following data are currently stored in the databank: the serial number and name of isotopes, decay modes and, for stable isotopes, the isotopic abundance (%), numbers of P decays and Q captures, numbers of corresponding final products, branching ratios, half-lives and their units, decay constants, thermal neutron captures, and fission cross sections, and other data (mainly alpha, beta and gamma intensities). The description of data and a printout of the BIPAL library are presented. (J.B.)

Modeling of filling gas centrifuge cascade for nickel isotope separation by feed flow input to different stages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orlov Alexey A.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents results of research filling gas centrifuge cascade by process gas fed into different stages. The modeling of filling cascade was done for nickel isotope separation. Analysis of the research results shows that nickel isotope concentrations of light and heavy fraction flows after filling cascade depend on feed stage number.

Physics with Heavy Neutron Rich Ribs at the Hribf

Science.gov (United States)

Radford, David

2002-10-01

The Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has recently produced the world's first post-accelerated beams of heavy neutron-rich nuclei. B(E2;0^+ arrow 2^+) values for neutron-rich ^126,128Sn and ^132,134,136Te isotopes have been measured by Coulomb excitation of radioactive ion beams in inverse kinematics. The results for ^132Te and ^134Te (N=80,82) show excellent agreement with systematics of lighter Te isotopes, but the B(E2) value for ^136Te (N=84) is unexpectedly small. Single-neutron transfer reactions leading to ^135Te were identified using a ^134Te beam on ^natBe and ^13C targets at energies just above the Coulomb barrier. The use of the Be target provided an unambiguous signature for neutron transfer through the detection of two correlated α particles, arising from the breakup of unstable ^8Be. The results of these experiments will be discussed, togther with plans for future experiments with these heavy n-rich RIBs.

Effect of isotopic hydrogen exchange on thermochemistry of solution of ammonium halides and deuteroammonium in water, heavy water and their mixtures with dimethylsulfoxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Egorov, G.I.

1996-01-01

Standard dissolution enthalpies of ammonium and deuteroammonium bromides and iodides in water, heavy water and their mixtures with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) at 298.15 K and compositions up to X=0.4 (X-mole part of DMSO) are presented. The influence of isotopic hydrogen exchange on the values of the standard dissolution enthalpies of NH 4 Cl, ND 4 Cl, NH 4 Br, ND 4 BR and NH 4 I in H 2 O, D 2 O and H 2 O (D 2 O)-DMSO mixture at 298.15 K, as well as of NH 4 Cl and ND 4 Cl in the same solvents at 323.15 K has been discussed. The values of NH 4 Cl and ND 4 Cl crystal lattice enthalpies have been compared. 15 refs., 3 tabs

Stable isotopic mass balance in sandstone-shale couplets. An example from the Neogene Pannonian Basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matyas, J.; Geologisches Institut.

1996-01-01

Oxygen isotopic ratios of carbonate cements in the Neogene sandstones of the Pannonian Basin show distinct variations: early calcites 3-6 per mille lighter than the late calcites from the same location and depth. This shift is thought to be related to the isotopically heavy oxygen released from the mixed-layer illite/smectite during illitisation. For sandstones dominated by compactional flow, closed system mass balance calculations predict an isotopic shift comparable to that deducted from petrographic and geochemical observations. The model suggests that variations of geothermal gradient has little effect on isotopic evolution; much more significant is the sandstone: shale ratio in the couplets. (author)

Procedures to determine the guaranteed production capacity of a heavy water plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peculea, Marius

1999-01-01

The capacity of a heavy water plant is determined by its design and represents a product between the plant production/hour and the running time. The production/hour is calculated for steady state conditions and the running time is estimated by the designer. Actually, the isotopic separation process takes place in unsteady state conditions and the working time is affected by equipment failure or even damages, after which a relaxation time is necessary for isotopic profile recovery along the separation columns. To determine the actual capacity, the designed capacity is corrected by the product of three coefficients: availability, reliability, and relaxation. The knowledge of the above mentioned coefficients allows the determination of the actual plant capacity; this is important also for further improvements of the separation technology and represents research objectives during the whole existence of such a plant in order to maintain it at an international level of competitiveness. The detailed content of the three coefficients and the way they were determined and experimentally verified on an industrial pilot plant for heavy water production by isotopic exchange at two temperatures in H 2 O - H 2 S system, are presented in this paper. (author)

The scintillating optical fiber isotope experiment: Bevalac calibrations of test models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Connell, J.J.; Binns, W.R.; Dowkontt, P.F.; Epstein, J.W.; Israel, M.H.; Klarmann, J.; Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO; Webber, W.R.; Kish, J.C.

1990-01-01

The Scintillating Optical Fiber Isotope Experiment (SOFIE) is a Cherenkov dE/dx-range experiment being developed to study the isotopic composition of cosmic rays in the iron region with sufficient resolution to resolve isotopes separated by one mass unit at iron. This instrument images stopping particles with a block of scintillating optical fibers coupled to an image intensified video camera. From the digitized video data the trajectory and range of particles stopping in the fiber bundle can be determined; this information, together with a Cherenkov measurement, is used to determine mass. To facilitate this determination, a new Cherenkov response equation was derived for heavy ions at energies near threshold in thick Cherenkov radiators. Test models of SOFIE were calibrated at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Bevalac heavy ion accelerator in 1985 and 1986 using beams of iron nuclei with energies of 465 to 515 MeV/nucleon. This paper presents the results of these calibrations and discusses the design of the SOFIE Bevalac test models in the context of the scientific objectives of the eventual balloon experiment. The test models show a mass resolution of σ A ≅0.30 amu and a range resolution of σ R ≅250 μm. These results are sufficient for a successful cosmic ray isotope experiment, thus demonstrating the feasibility of the detector system. The SOFIE test models represent the first successful application in the field of cosmic ray astrophysics of the emerging technology of scintillating optical fibers. (orig.)

Multi-purpose hydrogen isotopes separation plant design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boniface, H.A.; Gnanapragasam, N.V.; Ryland, D.K.; Suppiah, S.; Castillo, I. [Atomic Energy of Canada Limited - AECL, Chalk River, ON (Canada)

2015-03-15

There is a potential interest at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories to remove tritium from moderately tritiated light water and to reclaim tritiated, downgraded heavy water. With only a few limitations, a single CECE (Combined Electrolysis and Catalytic Exchange) process configuration can be designed to remove tritium from heavy water or light water and upgrade heavy water. Such a design would have some restrictions on the nature of the feed-stock and tritium product, but could produce essentially tritium-free light or heavy water that is chemically pure. The extracted tritium is produced as a small quantity of tritiated heavy water. The overall plant capacity is fixed by the total amount of electrolysis and volume of catalyst. In this proposal, with 60 kA of electrolysis a throughput of 15 kg*h{sup -1} light water for detritiation, about 4 kg*h{sup -1} of heavy water for detritiation and about 27 kg*h{sup -1} of 98% heavy water for upgrading can be processed. Such a plant requires about 1,000 liters of AECL isotope exchange catalyst. The general design features and details of this multi-purpose CECE process are described in this paper, based on some practical choices of design criteria. In addition, we outline the small differences that must be accommodated and some compromises that must be made to make the plant capable of such flexible operation. (authors)

Calcium isotope fractionation between aqueous compounds relevant to low-temperature geochemistry, biology and medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Moynier, Frédéric; Fujii, Toshiyuki

2017-03-01

Stable Ca isotopes are fractionated between bones, urine and blood of animals and between soils, roots and leaves of plants by >1000 ppm for the 44Ca/40Ca ratio. These isotopic variations have important implications to understand Ca transport and fluxes in living organisms; however, the mechanisms of isotopic fractionation are unclear. Here we present ab initio calculations for the isotopic fractionation between various aqueous species of Ca and show that this fractionation can be up to 3000 ppm. We show that the Ca isotopic fractionation between soil solutions and plant roots can be explained by the difference of isotopic fractionation between the different first shell hydration degree of Ca2+ and that the isotopic fractionation between roots and leaves is controlled by the precipitation of Ca-oxalates. The isotopic fractionation between blood and urine is due to the complexation of heavy Ca with citrate and oxalates in urine. Calculations are presented for additional Ca species that may be useful to interpret future Ca isotopic measurements.

Stable Isotope Systematics of Martian Perchlorate

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, P.; Farley, K. A.; Archer, D., Jr.; Atreya, S. K.; Conrad, P. G.; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Fairen, A.; Franz, H. B.; Freissinet, C.; Glavin, D. P.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Malespin, C.; Ming, D. W.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.; Sutter, B.

2015-12-01

is the HCl source, as the residual perchlorate after reduction will be isotopically heavy. Therefore, conclusive determination of the origin of HCl released during EGA is vital to understanding the origin of this large δ37Cl anomaly.

Estimation of atomic masses of heavy and superheavy elements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uno, Masahiro [Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-07-01

To estimate unknown atomic masses of heavy and superheavy elements, three kinds of formula: FRDM (finite range droplet model by Moeller et al.), TUYY (an empirical formula by Tachibana et al.) and our KUTY are explained. KUTY estimates the crude shell energies of spherical nucleus from sum of single-particle energies. Then, the refined shell energies in due consideration of paring and deformation are obtained by mixing with the functions of the crude shell energies. Experimental values of U and Fm isotopes were compared with estimation mass of KUTY and FRDM. In the field with experimental values of U isotopes, the value of KUTY and FRDM separated the same difference from the experimental value. The behavior of KUTY and FRDM for Fm isotopes were same as that of U, but ETFSI deviated a little from the experimental values. (S.Y.)

Heavy water: a distinctive and essential component of CANDU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, A.I.; van Alstyne, H.M.

1994-06-01

The exceptional properties of heavy water as a neutron moderator provide one of the distinctive features of CANDU reactors. Although most of the chemical and physical properties of deuterium and protium (mass 1 hydrogen) are appreciably different, the low terrestrial abundance of deuterium makes the separation of heavy water a relatively costly process, and so of considerable importance to the CANDU system. World heavy-water supplies are currently provided by the Girdler-Sulphide process or processes based on ammonia-hydrogen exchange. Due to cost and hazard considerations, new processes will be required for the production of heavy water in and beyond the next decade. Through AECL's development and refinement of wetproofed catalysts for the exchange of hydrogen isotopes between water and hydrogen, a family of new processes is expected to be deployed. Two monothermal processes, CECE (Combined Electrolysis and Catalytic Exchange, using water-to-hydrogen conversion by electrolysis) and CIRCE (Combined Industrially Reformed hydrogen and Catalytic Exchange, based on steam reforming of hydrocarbons), are furthest advanced. Besides its use for heavy-water production, the CECE process is a highly effective technology for heavy-water upgrading and for tritium separation from heavy (or light) water. (author). 10 refs., 1 tab., 7 figs

Towards a heavy-ion transport capability in the MARS15 Code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mokhov, N.V.; Gudima, K.K.; Mashnik, S.G.; Rakhno, I.L.; Striganov, S.

2004-01-01

In order to meet the challenges of new accelerator and space projects and further improve modelling of radiation effects in microscopic objects, heavy-ion interaction and transport physics have been recently incorporated into the MARS15 Monte Carlo code. A brief description of new modules is given in comparison with experimental data. The MARS Monte Carlo code is widely used in numerous accelerator, detector, shielding and cosmic ray applications. The needs of the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider, Large Hadron Collider, Rare Isotope Accelerator and NASA projects have recently induced adding heavy-ion interaction and transport physics to the MARS15 code. The key modules of the new implementation are described below along with their comparisons to experimental data.

Stable isotopes applied as water tracers for infiltration experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Xiaoyan; Chen Jiansheng; Sun Xiaoxu; Su Zhiguo

2011-01-01

The δD and δ 18 O vertical profiles of soil water were measured prior to and after a rainfall event. Mechanisms of soil water movement were deciphered by comparing the soil water isotope profiles with the isotopic composition of precipitation. The results show that evaporation at the upper depth led to enrichment of the heavy isotopes. Compared to the loess profile, the shallow soil water of sand profile is relatively enriched in D and 18 O due to macro-pore and low water-holding capacity. The precipitation is infiltrated into soil in piston mode, accompanied with significant mixing of older soil water. The preferential fluid flow in loess was observed at depths of 0-20 cm, caused by cracks in the depths. The hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions in outflow are close to the precipitation, which shows a mixing of the precipitation and old soil water, and indicates that the isotopic composition of outflow water is mainly controlled by that of the precipitation. The δD and δ 18 O in outflow decreased with time until stable δ values of outflow are close to those of the precipitation. (authors)

Development of fast-release solid catchers for rare isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Nolen, Jerry; Greene, John; Elam, Jeffrey; Mane, Anil; Sampathkumaran, Uma; Winter, Raymond; Hess, David; Mushfiq, Mohammad; Stracener, Daniel; Wiendenhoever, Ingo

2015-04-01

Porous solid catchers of rare isotopes are being developed for use at high power heavy ion accelerator facilities such as RIKEN, FRIB, and RISP. Compact solid catchers are complementary to helium gas catchers for parasitic harvesting of rare isotopes in the in-flight separators. They are useful for short lived isotopes for basic nuclear physics research and longer-lived isotopes for off-line applications. Solid catchers can operate effectively with high intensity secondary beams, e.g. >> 1E10 atoms/s with release times as short as 10-100 milliseconds. A new method using a very sensitive and efficient RGA has been commissioned off-line at Argonne and is currently being shipped to Florida State University for in-beam measurements of the release curves using stable beams. The same porous solid catcher technology is also being evaluated for use in targets for the production of medical isotopes such as 211-At. Research supported by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Physics under the SBIR Program and Contract # DE-AC02-06CH11357 and a University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center/ANL Pilot Project.

Medical applications of nuclear physics and heavy-ion beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alonso, Jose R.

2000-01-01

Isotopes and accelerators, hallmarks of nuclear physics, are finding increasingly sophisticated and effective applications in the medical field. Diagnostic and therapeutic uses of radioisotopes are now a $10B/yr business worldwide, with over 10 million procedures and patient studies performed every year. This paper will discuss the use of isotopes for these applications. In addition, beams of protons and heavy ions are being more and more widely used clinically for treatment of malignancies. To be discussed here as well will be the rationale and techniques associated with charged-particle therapy, and the progress in implementation and optimization of these technologies for clinical use

Accelerator Production of Isotopes for Medical Use

Science.gov (United States)

Lapi, Suzanne

2014-03-01

The increase in use of radioisotopes for medical imaging and therapy has led to the development of novel routes of isotope production. For example, the production and purification of longer-lived position emitting radiometals has been explored to allow for nuclear imaging agents based on peptides, antibodies and nanoparticles. These isotopes (64Cu, 89Zr, 86Y) are typically produced via irradiation of solid targets on smaller medical cyclotrons at dedicated facilities. Recently, isotope harvesting from heavy ion accelerator facilities has also been suggested. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) will be a new national user facility for nuclear science to be completed in 2020. Radioisotopes could be produced by dedicated runs by primary users or may be collected synergistically from the water in cooling-loops for the primary beam dump that cycle the water at flow rates in excess of hundreds of gallons per minute. A liquid water target system for harvesting radioisotopes at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) was designed and constructed as the initial step in proof-of-principle experiments to harvest useful radioisotopes in this manner. This talk will provide an overview of isotope production using both dedicated machines and harvesting from larger accelerators typically used for nuclear physics. Funding from Department of Energy under DESC0007352 and DESC0006862.

Stable isotope deltas: Tiny, yet robust signatures in nature

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Willi A.; Coplen, Tyler B.

2012-01-01

Although most of them are relatively small, stable isotope deltas of naturally occurring substances are robust and enable workers in anthropology, atmospheric sciences, biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, food and drug authentication, forensic science, geochemistry, geology, oceanography, and paleoclimatology to study a variety of topics. Two fundamental processes explain the stable isotope deltas measured in most terrestrial systems: isotopic fractionation and isotope mixing. Isotopic fractionation is the result of equilibrium or kinetic physicochemical processes that fractionate isotopes because of small differences in physical or chemical properties of molecular species having different isotopes. It is shown that the mixing of radioactive and stable isotope end members can be modelled to provide information on many natural processes, including 14C abundances in the modern atmosphere and the stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of the oceans during glacial and interglacial times. The calculation of mixing fractions using isotope balance equations with isotope deltas can be substantially in error when substances with high concentrations of heavy isotopes (e.g. 13C, 2H, and 18O ) are mixed. In such cases, calculations using mole fractions are preferred as they produce accurate mixing fractions. Isotope deltas are dimensionless quantities. In the International System of Units (SI), these quantities have the unit 1 and the usual list of prefixes is not applicable. To overcome traditional limitations with expressing orders of magnitude differences in isotope deltas, we propose the term urey (symbol Ur), after Harold C. Urey, for the unit 1. In such a manner, an isotope delta value expressed traditionally as−25 per mil can be written as−25 mUr (or−2.5 cUr or−0.25 dUr; the use of any SI prefix is possible). Likewise, very small isotopic differences often expressed in per meg ‘units’ are easily included (e.g. either+0.015 ‰ or+15 per meg

Method of extracting tritium from heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki; Kikuchi, Makoto; Asakura, Yamato; Yusa, Hideo.

1979-01-01

Purpose: To extract tritium in heavy water by combining isotope exchange reaction with liquefaction distillation to increase the concentration of recovered tritium, thereby reducing the quantity of radioactive wastes recovered. Constitution: Heavy water containing tritium from a reactor is introduced into a tritium separator through a conduit pipe. On the other hand, a D 2 gas is introduced through the conduit pipe in the lower part of a tritium separator to transfer tritium into D 2 gas by isotope exchange. The D 2 gas containing DT is introduced into a liquefaction distillation tower together with an outlet gas of a converter supplied through a pipeline. The converter is filled with net-like metals of platinum group such as Pt, Ni, Pd and the like, and the D 2 gas affluent in DT, extracted from the distillation tower is converted into D 2 and T 2 . The gas which has been introduced into the liquefaction distillation tower is liquefied. The D 2 gas of low boiling point components reaches the tower top, and the T 2 gas of high boiling point components is concentrated at the tower bottom, and is rendered into tritium water in a recoupler and stored in a water storage apparatus. (Yoshino, Y.)

Hyperaccumulation of radioactive isotopes by marine algae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishii, Toshiaki; Hirano, Shigeki; Watabe, Teruhisa

2003-01-01

Hyperaccumlators are effective indicator organisms for monitoring marine pollution by heavy metals and artificial radionuclides. We found a green algae, Bryopsis maxima that hyperaccumulate a stable and radioactive isotopes such as Sr-90, Tc-99, Ba-138, Re-187, and Ra-226. B. maxima showed high concentration factors for heavy alkali earth metals like Ba and Ra, compared with other marine algae in Japan. Furthermore, this species had the highest concentrations for Tc-99 and Re-187. The accumulation and excretion patterns of Sr-85 and Tc-95m were examined by tracer experiments. The chemical states of Sr and Re in living B. maxima were analyzed by HPLC-ICP/MS, LC/MS, and X-ray absorption fine structure analysis using synchrotron radiation. (author)

Calcium and Titanium Isotope Fractionation in CAIS: Tracers of Condensation and Inheritance in the Early Solar Protoplanetary Disk

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, J. I.; Jordan, M. K.; Tappa, M. J.; Kohl, I. E.; Young, E. D.

2016-01-01

The chemical and isotopic compositions of calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) can be used to understand the conditions present in the protoplantary disk where they formed. The isotopic compositions of these early-formed nebular materials are largely controlled by chemical volatility. The isotopic effects of evaporation/sublimation, which are well explained by both theory and experimental work, lead to enrichments of the heavy isotopes that are often exhibited by the moderately refractory elements Mg and Si. Less well understood are the isotopic effects of condensation, which limits our ability to determine whether a CAI is a primary condensate and/or retains any evidence of its primordial formation history.

Device for the separation of isotopic uranium compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niemann, H.J.; Sprehe, J.

1985-01-01

The UF6-isotopes selectively converted by low radiation are contained in a beam. The boundary region of this gas beam hits a target which is oriented in vertical angle to the gas beam and exerts a compression shock on it. This peel border leads to diversion of the reaction products of light mass, whereas the heavy mass, products flow into a receiver. (orig./PW)

Influence of chemical structure on carbon isotope composition of lignite

Science.gov (United States)

Erdenetsogt, Bat-Orshikh; Lee, Insung; Ko, Yoon-Joo; Mungunchimeg, Batsaikhan

2017-04-01

During the last two decades, a number of studies on carbon isotopes in terrestrial organic matter (OM) have been carried out and used to determine changes in paleoatmospheric δ13C value as well as assisting in paleoclimate analysis. Coal is abundant terrestrial OM. However, application of its δ13C value is very limited, because the understanding of changes in isotopic composition during coalification is relatively insufficient. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the chemical structure on the carbon isotope composition of lignite. Generally, lignite has more complex chemical structures than other higher rank coal because of the existence of various types of oxygen-containing functional groups that are eliminated at higher rank level. A total of sixteen Lower Cretaceous lignite samples from Baganuur mine (Mongolia) were studied by ultimate, stable carbon isotope and solid-state 13C CP/MAS NMR analyses. The carbon contents of the samples increase with increase in depth, whereas oxygen content decreases continuously. This is undoubtedly due to normal coalification process and also consistent with solid state NMR results. The δ13C values of the samples range from -23.54‰ to -21.34‰ and are enriched in 13C towards the lowermost samples. Based on the deconvolution of the NMR spectra, the ratios between carbons bonded to oxygen (60-90 ppm and 135-220 ppm) over carbons bonded to carbon and hydrogen (0-50 ppm and 90-135 ppm) were calculated for the samples. These correlate well with δ13C values (R2 0.88). The results indicate that the δ13C values of lignite are controlled by two mechanisms: (i) depletion in 13C as a result of loss of isotopically heavy oxygen-bounded carbons and (ii) enrichment in 13C caused by a loss of isotopically light methane from aliphatic and aromatic carbons. At the rank of lignite, coal is enriched in 13C because the amount of isotopically heavy CO2 and CO, released from coal as a result of changes in the chemical

Spatial Isotopic Characterization of Slovak Groundwaters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Povinec, P. P.; Sivo, A.; Breier, R.; Richtarikova, M. [Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Bratislava (Slovakia); Zenisova, Z. [Comenius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bratislava (Slovakia); Aggarwal, P. K.; Araguas Araguas, L. [International Atomic Energy Agency, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna (Austria)

2013-07-15

Zitny ostrov (Rye Island) in the south west of Slovakia is the largest groundwater reservoir in Central Europe (about 10 Gm{sup 3}). Groundwater contamination with radionuclides, heavy metals and organic compounds from the Danube River and local industrial and agricultural activities has recently been of great concern. Geostatistical analysis of experimental isotope data has been carried out with the aim of better understanding groundwater dynamics. For this purpose, spatial variations in the distribution of water isotopes and radiocarbon in the groundwater of Zitny ostrov have been evaluated. Subsurface water profiles showed enriched {delta}{sup 18}O levels at around 20 m water depth, and depleted values below 30 m, which are similar to those observed in the Danube River. The core of the subsurface {sup 14}C profiles represents contemporary groundwater with {sup 14}C values above 80 pMc. (author)

Heavy metals (As, Hg and V) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) in fish from Yellow River Estuary, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuan; Liu, Guijian; Yuan, Zijiao; Liu, Houqi; Lam, Paul K S

2018-02-01

The Yellow River Estuary is a significant fishery, but at present there are few studies about the concentrations of arsenic (As), mercury (Hg) and vanadium (V) in fish from this area, which might cause potential health risk to fish consumers. The aim of this study was to research on the accumulation and potential sources of heavy metals in the fish of the Yellow River Estuary. Arsenic, Hg, V and stable isotope ratios (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) in 11 species of 129 fish were analyzed. Results showed that the concentrations of As and Hg were all lower than the guideline levels established by international organizations and legal limits by several countries. The mean concentrations of V in samples in this study were significantly higher than the results of previous studies on other regions. Arsenic, Hg and V significantly differed across species (PHg, which could be explained by the positive correlation between Hg concentrations and δ 15 N in fish. Through estimation of daily intake of inorganic As (iAs), Hg and V via fish consumption, the heavy metal contamination level of fish samples fell in an acceptable range, indicating no potentially hazardous for human health. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Composition of heavy ions in solar energetic particle events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, C.Y.; Gloeckler, G.

1983-01-01

Recent advances in determining the elemental, charge state, and isotopic composition of approximatelt 1 to 20 MeV per nucleon ions in solar energetic particle (SEP) events and outline our current understanding of the nature of solar and interplanetary processes which may explain the observations. Average values of relative abundances measured in a large number of SEP events were found to be roughly energy independent in the approx. 1 to approx. 20 MeV per nucleon range, and showed a systematic deviation from photospheric abundances which seems to be organized in terms of the first ionization potential of the ion. Direct measurements of the charge states of SEPs revealed the surprisingly common presence of energetic He(+) along with heavy ion with typically coronal ionization states. High resolution measurements of isotopic abundance ratios in a small number of SEP events showed these to be consistent with the universal composition except for the puzzling overabundance of the SEP(22)Ne/(20)Ne relative to this isotopes ratio in the solar wind. The broad spectrum of observed elemental abundance variations, which in their extreme result in composition anomalies characteristic of (3)He rich, heavy ion rich and carbon poor SEP events, along with direct measurements of the ionization states of SEPs provided essential information on the physical characteristics of, and conditions in the source regions, as well as important constraints to possible models for SEP production

Tracing alteration of mantle peridotite in the Samail ophiolite using Mg isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

de Obeso, J. C.; Kelemen, P. B.; Higgins, J. A.

2017-12-01

Magnesium is one of the main constituents of mantle peridotite ( 22.8 wt%), which has a homogeneous Mg isotopic composition (d26Mg = -0.25 ± 0.04 ‰ (2 sd) DSM3, Teng et al 2010 GCA). Mg isotopes are used as tracers of continental and oceanic weathering as they exhibit variable degrees of fractionation during alteration depending on the lithology. Here we report some of the first Mg isotopic compositions of the mantle section of the Samail ophiolite in Oman and its alteration products. The mantle section of the ophiolite is composed mainly of depleted harzburgites and dunites with mantle-like d26Mg (-0.25, -0.21 ‰). Mantle peridotite is far from equilibrium in near surface conditions leading to rapid, extensive serpentinization, carbonation and oxidation, as well as other geochemical changes. Our analyzed samples encompass most of the alteration of peridotite products observed in Oman including listvenites (completely carbonated peridotite) near the basal thrust of the ophiolite, massive magnesite veins within peridotite outcrops, and heavily altered harzburgites. Magnesite listvenites have d26Mg slightly below mantle values (-0.33, -0.33‰) while dolomite listvenites are significantly lighter (-1.46, -0.89‰). This suggests that heavy Mg isotopes were removed from the listvenites during ophiolite emplacement. Heavily altered peridotite from Wadi Fins exhibit alteration halos with drastic changes in composition. The most oxidized areas are enriched in Fe and depleted in Mg compared to the cores of the samples. These variations in Mg concentrations are complemented by a shift to heavy Mg isotopic compositions (0.74, 0.86‰), among the heaviest d26Mg values that have been reported in altered peridotite. Potential sinks for light isotopes removed from such alteration zones are massive magnesite veins with very light compositions (-3.39, -3.14‰). The fractionation of Mg isotopes observed in the mantle section of the ophiolite spans more than 50% of the known

(d,p)-transfer induced fission of heavy radioactive beams

CERN Document Server

Veselsky, Martin

2012-01-01

(d,p)-transfer induced fission is proposed as a tool to study low energy fission of exotic heavy nuclei. Primary goal is to directly determine the fission barrier height of proton-rich fissile nuclei, preferably using the radio-active beams of isotopes of odd elements, and thus confirm or exclude the low values of fission barrier heights, typically extracted using statistical calculations in the compound nucleus reactions at higher excitation energies. Calculated fission cross sections in transfer reactions of the radioactive beams show sufficient sensitivity to fission barrier height. In the probable case that fission rates will be high enough, mass asymmetry of fission fragments can be determined. Results will be relevant for nuclear astrophysics and for production of super-heavy nuclei. Transfer induced fission offers a possibility for systematic study the low energy fission of heavy exotic nuclei at the ISOLDE.

Revision of heavy nuclei data in JENDL-3.2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kawano, Toshihiko [Kyushu Univ., Advanced Energy Engineering Science, Kasuga, Fukuoka (Japan)

2000-03-01

In order to deal with problems concerning the data of heavy nuclides in JENDL-3.2, a working group was organized to update the evaluated nuclear data of Uranium, Plutonium, and Thorium isotopes. The current status of the working group is reviewed, and some results about resonance parameters, secondary neutron energy spectra, fission cross sections, and direct/semidirect capture process are shown. (author)

Revision of heavy nuclei data in JENDL-3.2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawano, Toshihiko

2000-01-01

In order to deal with problems concerning the data of heavy nuclides in JENDL-3.2, a working group was organized to update the evaluated nuclear data of Uranium, Plutonium, and Thorium isotopes. The current status of the working group is reviewed, and some results about resonance parameters, secondary neutron energy spectra, fission cross sections, and direct/semidirect capture process are shown. (author)

Oxidative release of chromium from Archean ultramafic rocks, its transport and environmental impact – A Cr isotope perspective on the Sukinda valley ore district (Orissa, India)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paulukat, Cora; Døssing, Lasse N.; Mondal, Sisir K.; Voegelin, Andrea R.; Frei, Robert

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Cr in lateritic soil profiles in Sukinda valley are partly highly negatively fractionated. • Oxidative weathering and mining operations affect the Cr isotope composition of the local surface water. • Isotopically heavy Cr from land is probably preserved during its transport to the sea. • The environmental impact of toxic Cr(VI) can potentially be diminished by microbial mats. - Abstract: This study investigates Cr isotope fractionation during soil formation from Archean (3.1–3.3 Ga) ultramafic rocks in a chromite mining area in the southern Singhbhum Craton (Orissa, India). The Cr-isotope signatures of two studied weathering profiles, range from non-fractionated mantle values to negatively fractionated values as low as δ 53 Cr = −1.29 ± 0.04‰. Local surface waters are isotopically heavy relative to the soils. This supports the hypothesis that during oxidative weathering isotopically heavy Cr(VI) is leached from the soils to runoff. The impact of mining pollution is observed downstream from the mine where surface water Cr concentrations are significantly increased, accompanied by a shift to less positive δ 53 Cr values relative to upstream unpolluted surface water. A microbial mat sample indicates that microbes have the potential to reduce and immobilize Cr(VI), which could be a factor in controlling the hazardous impact of Cr(VI) on health and environment. The positive Cr isotope signatures of the Brahmani estuary and coastal seawater collected from the Bay of Bengal further indicate that the positively fractionated Cr isotope signal from the catchment area is preserved during its transport to the sea. Isotopically lighter Cr(VI) downstream from the mine is probably back-reduced to Cr(III) during riverine transport leading to similar Cr-isotope values in the estuary as observed upstream from the mine

Tuna and dolphin associations in the North-east Atlantic: Evidence of different ecological niches from stable isotope and heavy metal measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, K.; Lepoint, G.; Loizeau, V.; Debacker, V.; Dauby, P.; Bouquegneau, J.M.

2000-01-01

Associations of tunas and dolphins in the wild are quite frequent events and the question arises how predators requiring similar diet in the same habitat share their environmental resources. As isotopic composition of an animal is related to that of its preys, stable isotope ( 13 C/ 12 C and 15 N/ 14 N) analyses were performed in three predator species from the North-east Atlantic: the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, the common dolphin Delphinus delphis and the albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga, and compared to their previously described stomach content. Heavy metals (Cd, Zn, Cu and Fe) are mainly transferred through the diet and so, have been determined in the tissues of the animals. Tuna muscles display higher δ 15 N than in common and striped dolphins (mean: 11.4 vs. 10.3%o and 10.4%o, respectively) which reflects their higher trophic level nutrition. Higher δ 13 C are found in common (-18.4%o) and striped dolphin (-18.1%o) muscles than in albacore tuna (-19.3%o) probably in relation with its migratory pattern. The most striking feature is the presence of two levels of cadmium concentrations in the livers of the tunas (32 mg kg -1 dry weight (DW) vs. 5 mg kg -1 DW). These two groups also differ by their iron concentrations and their δ 15 N and δ 13 C liver values. These results suggest that in the Biscay Bay, tunas occupy two different ecological niches probably based on different squid inputs in their diet

Contribution to the development of a new process for heavy water production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lefrancois, Bernard

1970-01-01

This research thesis addresses the development of a new process for the production of heavy water by using an ammoniac-hydrogen based process. The author first presents and comments the results of fundamental studies on the composition of present phases, and on the coefficient of separation of isotopic exchange reaction. He shows that experiments and calculations allows the two main workshops to be sized: the isotopic exchange workshop, and the ammoniac dissociation workshop. Then, he examines how it is possible to calculate the plant general scheme, and to optimise the main parameters

Source identification of heavy metals in peri-urban agricultural soils of southeast China: An integrated approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Wenyou; Wang, Huifeng; Dong, Lurui; Huang, Biao; Borggaard, Ole K; Bruun Hansen, Hans Christian; He, Yue; Holm, Peter E

2018-06-01

Intensive human activities, in particular agricultural and industrial production have led to heavy metal accumulation in the peri-urban agricultural soils of China threatening soil environmental quality and agricultural product security. A combination of spatial analysis (SA), Pb isotope ratio analysis (IRA), input fluxes analysis (IFA), and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was successfully used to assess the status and sources of heavy metals in typical peri-urban agricultural soils from a rapidly developing region of China. Mean concentrations of Cd, As, Hg, Pb, Cu, Zn and Cr in surface soils (0-20 cm) were 0.31, 11.2, 0.08, 35.6, 44.8, 119.0 and 97.0 mg kg -1 , respectively, exceeding the local background levels except for Hg. Spatial distribution of heavy metals revealed that agricultural activities have significant influence on heavy metal accumulation in the surface soils. Isotope ratio analysis suggested that fertilization along with atmospheric deposition were the major sources of heavy metal accumulation in the soils. Based on the PMF model, the relative contribution rates of the heavy metals due to fertilizer application, atmospheric deposition, industrial emission, and soil parent materials were 30.8%, 33.0%, 25.4% and 10.8%, respectively, demonstrating that anthropogenic activities had significantly higher contribution than natural sources. This study provides a reliable and robust approach for heavy metals source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area with a clear potential for future application in other regions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scalable and efficient separation of hydrogen isotopes using graphene-based electrochemical pumping

Science.gov (United States)

Lozada-Hidalgo, M.; Zhang, S.; Hu, S.; Esfandiar, A.; Grigorieva, I. V.; Geim, A. K.

2017-05-01

Thousands of tons of isotopic mixtures are processed annually for heavy-water production and tritium decontamination. The existing technologies remain extremely energy intensive and require large capital investments. New approaches are needed to reduce the industry's footprint. Recently, micrometre-size crystals of graphene are shown to act as efficient sieves for hydrogen isotopes pumped through graphene electrochemically. Here we report a fully-scalable approach, using graphene obtained by chemical vapour deposition, which allows a proton-deuteron separation factor of around 8, despite cracks and imperfections. The energy consumption is projected to be orders of magnitude smaller with respect to existing technologies. A membrane based on 30 m2 of graphene, a readily accessible amount, could provide a heavy-water output comparable to that of modern plants. Even higher efficiency is expected for tritium separation. With no fundamental obstacles for scaling up, the technology's simplicity, efficiency and green credentials call for consideration by the nuclear and related industries.

Covariance of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition in plant water: Species effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cooper, L.W.; DeNiro, M.J. (Univ. of California, Los Angeles (United States))

1989-12-01

Leaf water becomes enriched in the heavy isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen during evapotranspiration. The magnitude of the enrichment has been shown to be influenced by temperature and humidity, but the effects of species-specific factors on leaf water enrichment of D and {sup 18}O have not been studied for different plants growing together. To learn whether leaf water enrichment patterns and processes for D and {sup 18}O are different for individual species growing under the same environmental conditions the authors tested the proposal that leaf waters in plants with crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) show high sloped (m in the leaf water equation {delta}D = m {delta}{sup 18}O + b) than in C{sub 3} plants. They determined the relationships between the stable hydrogen ({delta}D) and oxygen ({delta}{sup 18}O) isotope ratios of leaf waters collected during the diurnal cycle of evapotranspiration for Yucca schidigera, Ephedra aspera, Agave deserti, Prunus ilicifolia, Yucca whipplei, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Dyckia fosteriana, Simmondsia chinensis, and Encelia farinosa growing at two sites in southern California. The findings indicate that m in the aforementioned equation is related to the overall residence time for water in the leaf and proportions of water subjected to repeated evapotranspiration enrichments of heavy isotopes.

The importance of the reliability study for the safety operation of chemical plants. Application in heavy water plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumitrescu, Maria; Lazar, Roxana Elena; Preda, Irina Aida; Stefanescu, Ioan

1999-01-01

Heavy water production in Romania is based on H 2 O-H 2 S isotopic exchange process followed by vacuum isotopic distillation. The heavy water plant are complex chemical systems, characterized by an ensemble of static and dynamic equipment, AMC components, enclosures. Such equipment must have a high degree of reliability, a maximum safety in technological operation and a high availability index. Safety, reliable and economical operation heavy water plants need to maintain the systems and the components at adequate levels of reliability. The paper is a synthesis of the qualitative and quantitative assessment reliability studies for heavy water plants. The operation analysis on subsystems, each subsystems being a well-defined unit, is required by the plant complexity. For each component the reliability indicators were estimated by parametric and non-parametric methods based on the plant operation data. Also, the reliability qualitative and quantitative assessment was done using the fault tree technique. For the dual temperature isotopic exchange plants the results indicate an increase of the MTBF after the first years of operation, illustrating both the operation experience increasing and maintenance improvement. Also a high degree of availability was illustrated by the reliability studies of the vacuum distillation plant. The establishment of the reliability characteristics for heavy water plant represents an important step, a guide for highlighting the elements and process liable to failure being at the same time a planning modality to correlate the control times with the maintenance operations. This is the way to minimise maintenance, control and costs. The main purpose of the reliability study was the safety increase of the plant operation and the support for decision making. (authors)

Migration of heavy natural radionuclides in a humid climatic zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Titaeva, N.A.; Alexakhin, R.M.; Taskaev, A.I.; Maslov, V.I.

1980-01-01

Regularities and biochemical peculiarities of the migrations of heavy natural radionuclides in the environment are examined, with special reference to two regions in a humid climatic zone representing natural patterns of radionuclide distribution and to four plots artificially contaminated with high levels of natural radioactivity more than 20 years previously. It was determined that the migration of thorium, uranium, and radium isotopes through the rock-water-soil-plant system is dependent on many physiochemical properties of these radionuclides, their compounds, and the local environment. Isotopic activity ratios provide a useful tool for studying the direction of radionuclide migration and its influence on observed distribution patterns

Mass dependent fractionation of stable chromium isotopes in mare basalts: Implications for the formation and the differentiation of the Moon

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnand, Pierre; Parkinson, Ian J.; Anand, Mahesh

2016-02-01

We present the first stable chromium isotopic data from mare basalts in order to investigate the similarity between the Moon and the Earth's mantle. A double spike technique coupled with MC-ICP-MS measurements was used to analyse 19 mare basalts, comprising high-Ti, low-Ti and KREEP-rich varieties. Chromium isotope ratios (δ53Cr) for mare basalts are positively correlated with indices of magmatic differentiation such as Mg# and Cr concentration which suggests that Cr isotopes were fractionated during magmatic differentiation. Modelling of the results provides evidence that spinel and pyroxene are the main phases controlling the Cr isotopic composition during fractional crystallisation. The most evolved samples have the lightest isotopic compositions, complemented by cumulates that are isotopically heavy. Two hypotheses are proposed to explain this fractionation: (i) equilibrium fractionation where heavy isotopes are preferentially incorporated into the spinel lattice and (ii) a difference in isotopic composition between Cr2+ and Cr3+ in the melt. However, both processes require magmatic temperatures below 1200 °C for appreciable Cr3+ to be present at the low oxygen fugacities found in the Moon (IW -1 to -2 log units). There is no isotopic difference between the most primitive high-Ti, low-Ti and KREEP basalts, which suggest that the sources of these basalts were homogeneous in terms of stable Cr isotopes. The least differentiated sample in our sample set is the low-Ti basalt 12016, characterised by a Cr isotopic composition of -0.222 ± 0.025‰, which is within error of the current BSE value (-0.124 ± 0.101‰). The similarity between the mantles of the Moon and Earth is consistent with a terrestrial origin for a major fraction of the lunar Cr. This similarity also suggests that Cr isotopes were not fractionated by core formation on the Moon.

Heavy ion accelerators at GSI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angert, N.

1984-01-01

The status of the Unilac heavy ion linear accelerator at GSI, Darmstadt is given. A schematic overall plan view of the Unilac is shown and its systems are described. List of isotopes and intensities accelerated at the Unilac is presented. The experimental possibilities at GSI should be considerably extended by a heavy ion synchrotron (SIS 18) in combination with an experimental storage ring (ESR). A prototype of the rf-accelerating system of the synchrotron has been built and tested. Prototypes for the quadrupole and dipole magnets for the ring are being constructed. The SIS 18 is desigmed for a maximum magnetic rigidity of 18Tm so that neon can be accelerated to 2 GeV/W and uranium to 1 GeV/u. The design allows also the acceleration of protons up to 4.5 GeV. The ESR permits to storage fully stripped uranium ions up to an energy of approximately R50 MeV/u

Isotopic Evidence of Unaccounted for Fe and Cu Erythropoietic Pathways

Science.gov (United States)

Albarede, F.; Telouk, P.; Lamboux, A.; Jaouen, K.; Balter, V.

2011-12-01

Despite its potential importance for understanding perturbations in the Fe-Cu homeostatic pathways, the natural isotopic variability of these metals in the human body remains unexplored. We measured the Fe, Cu, and Zn isotope compositions of total blood, serum, and red blood cells of ~50 young blood donors by multiple-collector ICP-MS after separation and purification by anion exchange chromatography. Zn is on average 0.2 permil heavier in erythrocytes (δ 66Zn=0.44±0.33 permil) with respect to serum but shows much less overall isotopic variability than Fe and Cu, which indicates that isotope fractionation depends more on redox conditions than on ligand coordination. On average, Fe in erythrocytes (δ 56Fe=-2.59±0.47 permil) is isotopically light by 1-2 permil with respect to serum, whereas Cu in erythrocytes (δ 65Cu=0.56±0.50 permil) is 0.8 percent heavier. Fe and Cu isotope compositions clearly separate erythrocytes of men and women. Fe and Cu from B-type men erythrocytes are visibly more fractionated than all the other blood types. Isotope compositions provide an original method for evaluating metal mass balance and homeostasis. Natural isotope variability shows that the current models of Fe and Cu erythropoiesis, which assume that erythropoiesis is restricted to bone marrow, violate mass balance requirements. It unveils unsuspected major pathways for Fe, with erythropoietic production of isotopically heavy ferritin and hemosiderin, and for Cu, with isotopically light Cu being largely channeled into blood and lymphatic circulation rather than into superoxide dismutase-laden erythrocytes. Iron isotopes provide an intrinsic measuring rod of the erythropoietic yield, while Cu isotopes seem to gauge the relative activity of erythropoiesis and lymphatics.

The case for exotic beams at the Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garrett, J.D.

1991-01-01

The case is presented for modifying the Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to provide beams of proton-rich exotic isotopes, that do not occur terrestrially. A program of nuclear structure studies for light- and medium-mass, nearly self-conjugate nuclei and for heavy, proton-rich, quasibound nuclei is outlined, as are studies of hydrogen-burning reactions that occur in nucleosynthetic processes. Such a scientific program will provide a unique future for nuclear physics research at ORNL consistent with the long standing tradition of this laboratory

Application of compound specific 13C isotope investigations of chlorinated hydrocarbons in contaminated groundwaters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osenbrueck, K.; Heidinger, M.; Voropaev, A.; Ertl, S.; Eichinger, L.

2002-01-01

Full text: Chlorinated hydrocarbons are one of the most common pollutants found in groundwater. Due to complex contamination situations with overlapping contamination plumes the assessment of the organic contaminants requires the installation of expensive observation wells and high analytical effort. Here the determination of the stable isotope ratio 13 C/ 12 C of the organic compounds offers a promising and efficient tool to investigate the origin and the biodegradation characteristics of the chlorinated hydrocarbons in groundwater. The application of the method is based on characteristic isotope fingerprints, differing in chlorinated solvents. This isotope fingerprint is derived from different production pathways and is not influenced by transport or by retardation processes in the underground. Due to the fact, that two different contaminations can easily be distinguished by isotope ratios, an improved distinction of spatially and temporally different contamination plumes might be possible. In course of biologically mediated degradation processes a shift of the isotope ratios between the precursor and the product can frequently be observed, such as with denitrification or sulfate reduction processes. The isotope fractionation is due to a preferential reaction of the bonds formed by the lighter isotopes and leads to a progressive enrichment of the heavy isotopes in the precursor while the product becomes depleted in the heavy isotopes. Biological degradation of the highly chlorinated hydrocarbons is due to a co-metabolic dechlorinisation. Tetrachloroethene (PCE) for example degrades under anoxic conditions via trichloroethene (TCE) to cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE). Subsequent degradation to vinyl chloride (VC) and ethene may appear under aerobic as well as reducing environments depending on the site specific conditions. In several laboratory studies it has been shown, that biodegradation of the chlorinated hydrocarbons is accompanied by an isotope fractionation of

The Institute for Cryogenics and Isotope Separation - History, Present and Prospective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanescu, Ioan

1998-01-01

The foundation of plant 'G' at Rm. Valcea on March 1, 1970 has opened a technological prospect within the Romania Program of Nuclear Energy Development and led to formation of a school of experts under supervision of professor Marius Peculea, the Secretary general of Romanian Academy. The fruitful scientific activity of the plant's staff in approaching advanced technologies of heavy water separation resulted in numerous valuable technical solutions, patents and know-hows of national interest as well as a great number of scientific works which today constitutes a useful information basis for all the personnel engaged in the organization and growth of industrial production of heavy water. The research work continued by approaching new methods of hydrogen isotope separation, by initiation of selective physical adsorption of gases in porous materials, in the high vacuum techniques as well as in the technologies of low and very low temperatures. Following this scientific progress and based on the results of scientific research and technological developments, in 1996 the National Institute of Research-Development for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies, ICSI, at Rm. Valcea was founded. Research - development activity of ICSI is undertaken within the frames of several research programs at the science-technology interface. A special attention was paid to developing cryogenics, technologies and equipment specific for tritium and deuterium separation as well as the production and turning to account the gases and gas mixtures for industrial or laboratory applications. In ICSI two facilities of national interest operate, one in a stage of maintenance - the heavy water pilot and the other in current operation - the experimental pilot for tritium and deuterium separation. The outstanding target of ICSI is to become an internationally competitive institute in the field of cryogenic equipment and technologies specific to isotope separation, boosting the technological transfer to

The Molybdenum Isotope System as a Tracer of Slab Input in Subduction Zones: An Example From Martinique, Lesser Antilles Arc

Science.gov (United States)

Gaschnig, Richard M.; Reinhard, Christopher T.; Planavsky, Noah J.; Wang, Xiangli; Asael, Dan; Chauvel, Catherine

2017-12-01

Molybdenum isotopes are fractionated by Earth-surface processes and may provide a tracer for the recycling of crustal material into the mantle. Here, we examined the Mo isotope composition of arc lavas from Martinique in the Lesser Antilles arc, along with Cretaceous and Cenozoic Deep Sea Drilling Project sediments representing potential sedimentary inputs into the subduction zone. Mo stable isotope composition (defined as δ98Mo in ‰ deviation from the NIST 3134 standard) in lavas older than ˜7 million years (Ma) exhibits a narrow range similar to and slightly higher than MORB, whereas those younger than ˜7 Ma show a much greater range and extend to unusually low δ98Mo values. Sediments from DSDP Leg 78A, Site 543 have uniformly low δ98Mo values whereas Leg 14, Site 144 contains both sediments with isotopically light Mo and Mo-enriched black shales with isotopically heavy Mo. When coupled with published radiogenic isotope data, Mo isotope systematics of the lavas can be explained through binary mixing between a MORB-like end-member and different sedimentary compositions identified in the DSDP cores. The lavas older than ˜7 Ma were influenced by incorporation of isotopically heavy black shales into the mantle wedge. The younger lavas are the product of mixing isotopically light sedimentary material into the mantle wedge. The change in Mo isotope composition of the lavas at ˜7 Ma is interpreted to reflect the removal of the Cretaceous black shale component due to the arrival of younger ocean crust where the age-equivalent Cretaceous sediments were deposited in shallower oxic waters. Isotopic fractionation of Mo during its removal from the slab is not required to explain the observed systematics in this system.

Survival and compound nucleus probability of super heavy element Z = 117

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manjunatha, H.C. [Government College for Women, Department of Physics, Kolar, Karnataka (India); Sridhar, K.N. [Government First grade College, Department of Physics, Kolar, Karnataka (India)

2017-05-15

As a part of a systematic study for predicting the most suitable projectile-target combinations for heavy-ion fusion experiments in the synthesis of {sup 289-297}Ts, we have calculated the transmission probability (T{sub l}), compound nucleus formation probabilities (P{sub CN}) and survival probability (P{sub sur}) of possible projectile-target combinations. We have also studied the fusion cross section, survival cross section and fission cross sections for different projectile-target combination of {sup 289-297}Ts. These theoretical parameters are required before the synthesis of the super heavy element. The calculated probabilities and cross sections show that the production of isotopes of the super heavy element with Z = 117 is strongly dependent on the reaction systems. The most probable reactions to synthetize the super heavy nuclei {sup 289-297}Ts are worked out and listed explicitly. We have also studied the variation of P{sub CN} and P{sub sur} with the mass number of projectile and target nuclei. This work is useful in the synthesis of the super heavy element Z = 117. (orig.)

New method for the hydrogen isotope exchange reaction in a hydrophobic catalyst bed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asakura, Y.; Kikuchi, M.; Yusa, H.

1982-01-01

To improve the isotope exchange reaction efficiency between water and hydrogen, a new reactor in which water mists and hydrogen gas react cocurrently was studied. To apply this to the enrichment of tritium in heavy water, a dual temperature isotope exchange reactor which is composed of cocurrent low temperature reactors and the usual countercurrent high temperature reactor was proposed and analyzed using a McCabe-Thiele diagram. By utilizing cocurrent reactors, in combination, the necessary catalyst volume can be reduced to one-tenth as compared with the usual countercurrent low temperature reactor. 17 refs

Spontaneous emission of heavy-ions from uranium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carvalho, H.G. de; Martins, J.B.; Souza, I.O. de; Tavares, O.A.P.

1974-09-01

The experimental evidences that 238 U, and perhaps other heavy nuclei, besides undergoing spontaneous fission, are also emitters of ions in the mass-range from 20 to 70. Estimates obtained by means of the WKB method indicate half-lifes of 10 15 to 10 18 years for some of these processes, which agree with our findings. Our results are supported by a systematic observation of neon and argon with abnormal isotopic abundance in both radioactive minerals and helium-bearing natural gases

Transfer reaction studies in the region of heavy and superheavy nuclei at SHIP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heinz, S; Comas, V; Hofmann, S; Ackermann, D; Heredia, J; Hessberger, F P; Khuyagbaatar, J; Kindler, B; Lommel, B; Mann, R, E-mail: s.heinz@gsi.de [GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt (Germany)

2011-02-01

We studied multi-nucleon transfer reactions in the region of heavy and superheavy nuclei. The goal was to investigate these reactions as possibility to create new superheavy neutron-rich isotopes, which cannot be produced in fusion reactions. The experiments have been performed at the velocity filter SHIP at GSI. At SHIP we can detect and identify the heavy, target-like, transfer products. Due to the low background at the focal plane detector and the isotope identification via radioactive decays, the setup allows to reach an upper cross-section limit of 10 pb/sr within one day of beamtime. We investigated the systems {sup 58,64}Ni + {sup 207}Pb and {sup 48}Ca + {sup 248}Cm at beam energies below and up to 20% above the Coulomb barrier. At all energies we observed a massive transfer of protons and neutrons, where transfer products with up to eight neutrons more than the target nucleus could be identified.

Transport of heavy ions through matter within ion optical systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwab, T.

1991-04-01

In this thesis for the first time higher-order ion-optical calculations were connected with the whole phase-space changes of the heavy ions in passing through matter. With the developed programs and the newly proposed analytical methods atomic and nuclear interactions of the heavy ions within ion optical systems can be described realistically. The results of this thesis were applied to the conception of the fragment separator (FRS) and to the planning and preparation of experiments at the new GSI accelerator facility. Especially for the description of the ion-optical combination of FRS and the storage ring ESR the developed programs and methods proved to be necessary. A part of the applied theories on the atomic stopping could be confirmed in the framework of this thesis in an experiment with the high-resolving spectrometer SPEC at GANIL. The method of the isotopically pure separation of projectile fragments by means of magnetic analysis and the electronic energy loss could be also experimentally successfully tested at several energies (60-400 MeV/u). Furthermore in this thesis also application-related problems regarding a tumor therapy with heavy ions were solved. A concept for a medical separator (BMS) was developed, which separates light diagnosis beams isotopically purely and beyond improves the energy sharpness by means of an especially shaped (monoenergetic) stopper so that an in-situ range determination is possible with an accuracy of about one millimeter. (orig./HSI) [de

Carbon-isotope stratigraphy from terrestrial organic matter through the Monterey event, Miocene, New Jersey margin (IODP Expedition 313)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fang, Linhao; Bjerrum, Christian J.; Hesselbo, Stephen P.

2013-01-01

documented from oceanic settings (i.e., lack of positive excursion of carbon-isotope values in terrestrial organic matter through the Langhian Stage). Factors that may potentially bias local terrestrial carbon-isotope records include reworking from older deposits, degradation and diagenesis, as well....../or reworking of older woody phytoclasts, but where such processes have occurred they do not readily explain the observed carbon-isotope values. It is concluded that the overall carbon-isotope signature for the exchangeable carbon reservoir is distorted, to the extent that the Monterey event excursion...... is not easily identifiable. The most likely explanation is that phytoclast reworking has indeed occurred in clinoform toe-of-slope facies, but the reason for the resulting relatively heavy carbon-isotope values in the Burdigalian remains obscure....

Non-chondritic iron isotope ratios in planetary mantles as a result of core formation

Science.gov (United States)

Elardo, Stephen M.; Shahar, Anat

2017-02-01

Information about the materials and conditions involved in planetary formation and differentiation in the early Solar System is recorded in iron isotope ratios. Samples from Earth, the Moon, Mars and the asteroid Vesta reveal significant variations in iron isotope ratios, but the sources of these variations remain uncertain. Here we present experiments that demonstrate that under the conditions of planetary core formation expected for the Moon, Mars and Vesta, iron isotopes fractionate between metal and silicate due to the presence of nickel, and enrich the bodies' mantles in isotopically light iron. However, the effect of nickel diminishes at higher temperatures: under conditions expected for Earth's core formation, we infer little fractionation of iron isotopes. From our experimental results and existing conceptual models of magma ocean crystallization and mantle partial melting, we find that nickel-induced fractionation can explain iron isotope variability found in planetary samples without invoking nebular or accretionary processes. We suggest that near-chondritic iron isotope ratios of basalts from Mars and Vesta, as well as the most primitive lunar basalts, were achieved by melting of isotopically light mantles, whereas the heavy iron isotope ratios of terrestrial ocean floor basalts are the result of melting of near-chondritic Earth mantle.

The National Institute of Research and Development for Isotopic and Molecular Technologies at Cluj - Napoca - Fifty Years of Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasaru, Gh.

2000-01-01

The life of an institute represents knitting of tens and hundreds of threads of professional achievements, human striving, aspirations, enthusiast endeavouring sparks and often enough defeats. The history of an institute can be narrated from different angles of view but perhaps the most beautiful and correct presentation would be that the institute itself would narrate if it could be able to do that. In 1950 the Physics Division of the Institut for Physics at Bucharest - Magurele created at Cluj - Napoca a subsidiary section later operating under the aegis of Cluj - Napoca subsidiary of Romanian Academy. The research programs were mainly addressing at that time applicative items as required by the local industry. A new technology for obtaining acetylene by cracking methane under electric arc discharge was obtained and it became basic for producing row material for synthetic rubber industry. In order to perform measurements in isotope separation procedures a series of analytical methods for gas mixtures was developed as well as the analytic equipment for both laboratory and industrial uses. Starting from 1956 the Cluj - Napoca Division of the Atomic Physics Institute in Bucharest focused its research programs on stable isotope physics and chemistry. These programs aimed at solving in Romania the deuterium related problems, namely, the deuterium separation and analysis and heavy water preparation, the nuclear ingredients of major importance for CANDU type nuclear power reactors, moderated and cooled with heavy water. Initial research for deuterium analysis developed new densitometric, optical and gas-chromatographic methods. Another direction of research was the problem of light element separation. A new method based on thermal diffusion was work out and studies were conducted, relating to separation factors and equilibrium time establishing for different gaseous isotopic mixtures (H/D, 12 C / 13 C, 14 N / 15 N, 16 O / 18 O). In 1967-1968 the heavy nitrogen isotope

An integrated approach to assess heavy metal source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Ying; Li, Tingqiang; Wu, Chengxian; He, Zhenli; Japenga, Jan; Deng, Meihua; Yang, Xiaoe

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Heavy metal source apportionment was conducted in peri-urban agricultural areas. • Precise and quantified results were obtained by using isotope ratio analysis. • The integration of IRA, GIS, PCA, and CA was proved to be more reliable. • Hg pollution was from the use of organic fertilizers in this area. - Abstract: Three techniques (Isotope Ratio Analysis, GIS mapping, and Multivariate Statistical Analysis) were integrated to assess heavy metal pollution and source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils. The soils in the study area were moderately polluted with cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), lightly polluted with lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). GIS Mapping suggested Cd pollution originates from point sources, whereas Hg, Pb, Cr could be traced back to both point and non-point sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) were mainly inherited from natural sources, while Hg, Pb, and Cd were associated with two different kinds of anthropogenic sources. Cluster analysis (CA) further identified fertilizers, waste water, industrial solid wastes, road dust, and atmospheric deposition as potential sources. Based on isotope ratio analysis (IRA) organic fertilizers and road dusts accounted for 74–100% and 0–24% of the total Hg input, while road dusts and solid wastes contributed for 0–80% and 19–100% of the Pb input. This study provides a reliable approach for heavy metal source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area, with a clear potential for future application in other regions.

An integrated approach to assess heavy metal source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Ying; Li, Tingqiang; Wu, Chengxian [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058 (China); He, Zhenli [University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Indian River Research and Education Center, Fort Pierce, FL 34945 (United States); Japenga, Jan; Deng, Meihua [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058 (China); Yang, Xiaoe, E-mail: xeyang@zju.edu.cn [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058 (China)

2015-12-15

Highlights: • Heavy metal source apportionment was conducted in peri-urban agricultural areas. • Precise and quantified results were obtained by using isotope ratio analysis. • The integration of IRA, GIS, PCA, and CA was proved to be more reliable. • Hg pollution was from the use of organic fertilizers in this area. - Abstract: Three techniques (Isotope Ratio Analysis, GIS mapping, and Multivariate Statistical Analysis) were integrated to assess heavy metal pollution and source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils. The soils in the study area were moderately polluted with cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), lightly polluted with lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). GIS Mapping suggested Cd pollution originates from point sources, whereas Hg, Pb, Cr could be traced back to both point and non-point sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) were mainly inherited from natural sources, while Hg, Pb, and Cd were associated with two different kinds of anthropogenic sources. Cluster analysis (CA) further identified fertilizers, waste water, industrial solid wastes, road dust, and atmospheric deposition as potential sources. Based on isotope ratio analysis (IRA) organic fertilizers and road dusts accounted for 74–100% and 0–24% of the total Hg input, while road dusts and solid wastes contributed for 0–80% and 19–100% of the Pb input. This study provides a reliable approach for heavy metal source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area, with a clear potential for future application in other regions.

STABLE ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY OF MASSIVE ICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yurij K. Vasil’chuk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper summarises stable-isotope research on massive ice in the Russian and North American Arctic, and includes the latest understanding of massive-ice formation. A new classification of massive-ice complexes is proposed, encompassing the range and variabilityof massive ice. It distinguishes two new categories of massive-ice complexes: homogeneousmassive-ice complexes have a similar structure, properties and genesis throughout, whereasheterogeneous massive-ice complexes vary spatially (in their structure and properties andgenetically within a locality and consist of two or more homogeneous massive-ice bodies.Analysis of pollen and spores in massive ice from Subarctic regions and from ice and snow cover of Arctic ice caps assists with interpretation of the origin of massive ice. Radiocarbon ages of massive ice and host sediments are considered together with isotope values of heavy oxygen and deuterium from massive ice plotted at a uniform scale in order to assist interpretation and correlation of the ice.

Application of iron and zinc isotopes to track the sources and mechanisms of metal loading in a mountain watershed

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borrok, David M., E-mail: dborrok@utep.edu [Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas, El Paso, TX 79968 (United States); Wanty, Richard B.; Ian Ridley, W.; Lamothe, Paul J. [US Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (United States); Kimball, Briant A. [US Geological Survey, 2329 W. Orton Cir., Salt Lake City, UT 84119 (United States); Verplanck, Philip L.; Runkel, Robert L. [US Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 (United States)

2009-07-15

Here the hydrogeochemical constraints of a tracer dilution study are combined with Fe and Zn isotopic measurements to pinpoint metal loading sources and attenuation mechanisms in an alpine watershed impacted by acid mine drainage. In the tested mountain catchment, {delta}{sup 56}Fe and {delta}{sup 66}Zn isotopic signatures of filtered stream water samples varied by {approx}3.5 per mille and 0.4 per mille, respectively. The inherent differences in the aqueous geochemistry of Fe and Zn provided complimentary isotopic information. For example, variations in {delta}{sup 56}Fe were linked to redox and precipitation reactions occurring in the stream, while changes in {delta}{sup 66}Zn were indicative of conservative mixing of different Zn sources. Fen environments contributed distinctively light dissolved Fe (<-2.0 per mille) and isotopically heavy suspended Fe precipitates to the watershed, while Zn from the fen was isotopically heavy (>+0.4 per mille). Acidic drainage from mine wastes contributed heavier dissolved Fe ({approx}+0.5 per mille) and lighter Zn ({approx}+0.2 per mille) isotopes relative to the fen. Upwelling of Fe-rich groundwater near the mouth of the catchment was the major source of Fe ({delta}{sup 56}Fe {approx} 0 per mille) leaving the watershed in surface flow, while runoff from mining wastes was the major source of Zn. The results suggest that given a strong framework for interpretation, Fe and Zn isotopes are useful tools for identifying and tracking metal sources and attenuation mechanisms in mountain watersheds.

Proton Radioactivity Measurements at HRIBF: Ho, Lu, and Tm Isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akovali, Y.; Batchelder, J.C.; Bingham, C.R.; Davinson, T.; Ginter, T.N.; Gross, C.J.; Grzywacz, R.; Hamilton, J.H.; Janas, Z.; Karny, M.; Kim, S.H.; MacDonald, B.D.; Mas, J.F.; McConnell, J.W.; Piechaczek, A.; Ressler, J.J.; Rykaczewski, K.; Slinger, R.C.; Szerypo, J.; Toth, K.S.; Weintraub, W.; Woods, P.J.; Yu, C.-H.; Zganjar, E.F.

1998-01-01

Two new isotopes, 145 Tm and 140 Ho and three isomers in previously known isotopes, 141m Ho, 150m Lu and 151m Lu have been discovered and studied via their decay by proton emission. These proton emitters were produced at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) by heavy-ion fusion-evaporation reactions, separated in A/Q with a recoil mass spectrometer (RMS), and detected in a double-sided silicon strip detector (DSSD). The decay energy and half-life was measured for each new emitter. An analysis in terms of a spherical shell model is applied to the Tm and Lu nuclei, but Ho is considerably deformed and requires a collective model interpretation

Production of heavy nuclides in nuclear devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eccles, Samuel F [Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Livermore, CA (United States)

1970-05-15

Since the last Plowshare Symposium in 1964 a number of experiments have been carried out to study the production of heavy nuclei by rapid multiple neutron capture in specially designed nuclear devices. These experiments listed below were conducted underground at the Nevada Test Site and data were obtained radiochemically after sample recovery by drillback. The main characteristics of these experiments are 1) higher neutron fluxes than in the early events, 2) a variety of targets, including 238-U, 242-Pu, 237-Np, 243-Am, 232-Th, 3) the occurrence of an interesting 'reversal of the odd-even effect' in the mass yield curves, and 4) the absence of nuclei in the debris with (Z,A) greater than (100,257). Analysis of data from these experiments have led to capture cross sections for neutron-rich uranium isotopes (out to 249-U), and capture-to-fission ratios for the odd-A neutron-rich plutonium isotopes (out to 253-Pu). General studies of the fission process in neutron-rich nuclei have also been undertaken using the data from these experiments. The large amounts of 250Cm and 257Fm made in the recent Hutch experiment ({approx}1 x 10{sup 20} and {approx}5 x 10{sup 17} atoms, respectively) make it scientifically exciting, and economically feasible, to mine and recover enough material to produce laboratory targets of these isotopes. These targets would be used in investigations of yet-undiscovered, short-lived isotopes of Fm, Md, and No, as well as the possible production of new isotopes of element 104 and even element 105. (author)

Production of heavy nuclides in nuclear devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eccles, Samuel F.

1970-01-01

Since the last Plowshare Symposium in 1964 a number of experiments have been carried out to study the production of heavy nuclei by rapid multiple neutron capture in specially designed nuclear devices. These experiments listed below were conducted underground at the Nevada Test Site and data were obtained radiochemically after sample recovery by drillback. The main characteristics of these experiments are 1) higher neutron fluxes than in the early events, 2) a variety of targets, including 238-U, 242-Pu, 237-Np, 243-Am, 232-Th, 3) the occurrence of an interesting 'reversal of the odd-even effect' in the mass yield curves, and 4) the absence of nuclei in the debris with (Z,A) greater than (100,257). Analysis of data from these experiments have led to capture cross sections for neutron-rich uranium isotopes (out to 249-U), and capture-to-fission ratios for the odd-A neutron-rich plutonium isotopes (out to 253-Pu). General studies of the fission process in neutron-rich nuclei have also been undertaken using the data from these experiments. The large amounts of 250Cm and 257Fm made in the recent Hutch experiment (∼1 x 10 20 and ∼5 x 10 17 atoms, respectively) make it scientifically exciting, and economically feasible, to mine and recover enough material to produce laboratory targets of these isotopes. These targets would be used in investigations of yet-undiscovered, short-lived isotopes of Fm, Md, and No, as well as the possible production of new isotopes of element 104 and even element 105. (author)

Lead isotope profiling in dairy calves.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchweitz, John; McClure-Brinton, Kimberly; Zyskowski, Justin; Stensen, Lauren; Lehner, Andreas

2015-03-01

Lead (Pb) is a common cause of heavy metal poisonings in cattle. Sources of Pb on farms include crankcase oil, machinery grease, batteries, plumbing, and paint chips. Consequently, consumption of Pb from these sources may negatively impact animal health and Pb may be inadvertently introduced into the food supply. Therefore, the scope of poisoning incidents must be clearly assessed and sources of intoxication identified and strategies to mitigate exposure evaluated and implemented to prevent future exposures. Stable isotope analysis by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has proven itself of value in forensic investigations. We report on the extension of Pb stable isotope analysis to bovine tissues and profile comparisons with paint chips and soils collected from an affected dairy farm to elucidate the primary source. Pb occurs naturally as four stable isotopes: (204)Pb, (206)Pb, (207)Pb, and (208)Pb. Herein a case is reported to illustrate the use of (207)Pb/(206)Pb and (208)Pb/(206)Pb ratios to link environmental sources of exposure with tissues from a poisoned animal. Chemical Pb profiling provides a valuable tool for field investigative approaches to Pb poisoning in production agriculture and is applicable to subclinical exposures. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nucleosynthesis of heavy elements by the photonuclear reaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayakawa, Takehito

2002-01-01

Nucleosynthesis of heavy elements is important for understanding of the site mechanism in the stellar and cosmochronology. The nuclei heavier than iron have been synthesized mainly by the s-process and the β-decay after the r-process. The light isotope p-nuclei produced by the photonuclear reaction in Type II supernovae explosions. In order to understand the role of each process, the ratios of the processes are calculated. I propose the experimental plan using the photon sources. (author)

Small changes in Cu redox state and speciation generate large isotope fractionation during adsorption and incorporation of Cu by a phototrophic biofilm

Science.gov (United States)

Coutaud, Margot; Méheut, Merlin; Glatzel, Pieter; Pokrovski, Gleb S.; Viers, Jérôme; Rols, Jean-Luc; Pokrovsky, Oleg S.

2018-01-01

Despite the importance of phototrophic biofilms in metal cycling in freshwater systems, metal isotope fractionation linked to metal adsorption and uptake by biofilm remains very poorly constrained. Here, copper isotope fractionation by a mature phototrophic biofilm during Cu surface adsorption and incorporation was studied in batch reactor (BR) and open drip flow reactor (DFR) systems at ambient conditions. X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (both Near Edge Structure, XANES, and Extended Fine Structure, EXAFS) at Cu K-edge of the biofilm after its interaction with Cu in BR experiments allowed characterizing the molecular structure of assimilated Cu and quantifying the degree of CuII to CuI reduction linked to Cu assimilation. For both BR and DFR experiments, Cu adsorption caused enrichment in heavy isotope at the surface of the biofilm relative to the aqueous solution, with an apparent enrichment factor for the adsorption process, ε65Cuads, of +1.1 ± 0.3‰. In contrast, the isotope enrichment factor during copper incorporation into the biofilm (ε65Cuinc) was highly variable, ranging from -0.6 to +0.8‰. This variability of the ε65Cuinc value was likely controlled by Cu cellular uptake via different transport pathways resulting in contrasting fractionation. Specifically, the CuII storage induced enrichment in heavy isotope, whereas the toxicity response of the biofilm to Cu exposure resulted in reduction of CuII to CuI, thus yielding the biofilm enrichment in light isotope. EXAFS analyses suggested that a major part of the Cu assimilated by the biofilm is bound to 5.1 ± 0.3 oxygen or nitrogen atoms, with a small proportion of Cu linked to sulfur atoms (NS biofilm exhibited a similar trend over time of exposure. Our study demonstrates the complexity of biological processes associated with live phototrophic biofilms, which produce large and contrasting isotope fractionations following rather small Cu redox and speciation changes during uptake, storage or release of

Ca isotopic fractionation patterns in forest ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Kurtz, A. C.; Takagi, K.

2012-12-01

Calcium stable isotope ratios are an emerging tracer of the biogeochemical cycle of Ca that are just beginning to see significant application to forest ecosystems. The primary source of isotopic fractionation in these systems is discrimination against light Ca during uptake by plant roots. Cycling of vegetation-fractionated Ca establishes isotopically distinct Ca pools within a forest ecosystem. In some systems, the shallow soil exchangeable Ca pool is isotopically heavy relative to Ca inputs. This has been explained by preferential removal of light Ca from the soil. In other systems, the soil exchange pool is isotopically light relative to inputs, which is explained by recycling of plant-fractionated light Ca back into soil. Thus vegetation uptake of light Ca has been called on to account for both isotopically heavy and light Ca in the shallow soil exchange pools. We interpret patterns in ecosystem δ44Ca with the aid of a simple box model of the forest Ca cycle. We suggest that the δ44Ca of exchangeable Ca in the shallow soil pool primarily reflects the relative magnitude of three key fluxes in a forest Ca cycle, 1) the flux of external Ca into the system via weathering or atmospheric deposition, 2) the uptake flux of Ca from soils into the vegetation pool, and 3) the return flux of Ca to shallow soils via remineralization of leaf litter. Two observations that emerge from our model may aid in the application of Ca isotopes to provide insight into the forest Ca cycle. First, regardless of the magnitude of both vegetation Ca uptake and isotopic fractionation, the δ44Ca of the soil exchange pool will equal the input δ44Ca unless the plant uptake and remineralization fluxes are out of balance. A second observation is that the degree to which the shallow soil exchange pool δ44Ca can differ from the input ratio is controlled by the relative rates of biological uptake and external Ca input. Significant differences between soil exchange and input δ44Ca are seen only

Boron isotopes at the catchment scale, a new potential tool to infer critical zone processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaillardet, J.; Noireaux, J.; Braun, J. J.; Riotte, J.; Louvat, P.; Bouchez, J.; Lemarchand, D.; Muddu, S.; Mohan Kumar, M.; Candaudap, F.

2017-12-01

Boron is a mid-mass element that has two isotopes, 10B and 11B. These isotopes are largely fractioned by a number of chemical, biological and physical processes. Boron as a great affinity for clays and is useful for life, making it a double tracer of critical zone processes. This study focuses on the Mule Hole Critical Zone Observatory in South India. This is part of the French Research Infrastructure OZCAR and has benefited from the fruitful Indo-French collaboration (Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences) for more that 15 years. Boron and its isotopes were measured in the different compartment of the CZ in Mule Hole, vegetation, atmosphere, throughfall, soil, soil water, river water and compared to the behavior of other elements. The well constrained hydrology in Mule Hole allowed us to calculate the main fluxes affecting boron in the Critical Zone and came to the first order conclusion that the recycling of boron by vegetation is by far the most important flux within the system, reaching 15-20 times the catchment outlet flux. From an isotopic point of view, the total range of variation is measured between -3 ‰ and 77‰, with a bedrock value at 10‰ in classical delta unit, making boron a well suited tracer for constraining CZ processes. The flux of boron most enriched in heavy boron is the throughfall, showing the importance of biological processes in controlling the boron isotopic composition of the stream. Boron in soils in depleted in the heavy isotope but is enriched in boron compared to the bedrock, a surprising situation that we interpret as the legacy of a previous stage of transient weathering. These results indicate a strong decoupling between the behaviors of boron at the surface of the CZ and at depth.

Mathematical modeling of filling of gas centrifuge cascade for nickel isotope separation by various feed flow rate

Science.gov (United States)

Ushakov, Anton; Orlov, Alexey; Sovach, Victor P.

2018-03-01

This article presents the results of research filling of gas centrifuge cascade for separation of the multicomponent isotope mixture with process gas by various feed flow rate. It has been used mathematical model of the nonstationary hydraulic and separation processes occurring in the gas centrifuge cascade. The research object is definition of the regularity transient of nickel isotopes into cascade during filling of the cascade. It is shown that isotope concentrations into cascade stages after its filling depend on variable parameters and are not equal to its concentration on initial isotope mixture (or feed flow of cascade). This assumption is used earlier any researchers for modeling such nonstationary process as set of steady-state concentration of isotopes into cascade. Article shows physical laws of isotope distribution into cascade stage after its filling. It's shown that varying each parameters of cascade (feed flow rate, feed stage number or cascade stage number) it is possible to change isotope concentration on output cascade flows (light or heavy fraction) for reduction of duration of further process to set of steady-state concentration of isotopes into cascade.

Tracing anthropogenic thallium in soil using stable isotope compositions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kersten, Michael; Xiao, Tangfu; Kreissig, Katharina; Brett, Alex; Coles, Barry J; Rehkämper, Mark

2014-08-19

Thallium stable isotope data are used in this study, for the first time, to apportion Tl contamination in soils. In the late 1970s, a cement plant near Lengerich, Germany, emitted cement kiln dust (CKD) with high Tl contents, due to cocombustion of Tl-enriched pyrite roasting waste. Locally contaminated soil profiles were obtained down to 1 m depth and the samples are in accord with a binary mixing relationship in a diagram of Tl isotope compositions (expressed as ε(205)Tl, the deviation of the (205)Tl/(203)Tl ratio of a sample from the NIST SRM 997 Tl isotope standard in parts per 10(4)) versus 1/[Tl]. The inferred mixing endmembers are the geogenic background, as defined by isotopically light soils at depth (ε(205)Tl ≈ -4), and the Tl emissions, which produce Tl-enriched topsoils with ε(205)Tl as high as ±0. The latter interpretation is supported by analyses of the CKD, which is also characterized by ε(205)Tl ≈ ± 0, and the same ε(205)Tl value was found for a pyrite from the deposit that produced the cocombusted pyrite roasting waste. Additional measurements for samples from a locality in China, with outcrops of Tl sulfide mineralization and associated high natural Tl backgrounds, reveal significant isotope fractionation between soils (ε(205)Tl ≈ +0.4) and locally grown green cabbage (ε(205)Tl between -2.5 and -5.4). This demonstrates that biological isotope fractionation cannot explain the isotopically heavy Tl in the Lengerich topsoils and the latter are therefore clearly due to anthropogenic Tl emissions from cement processing. Our results thus establish that isotopic data can reinforce receptor modeling for the toxic trace metal Tl.

Oxygen Isotope Composition of Nitrate Produced by Freshwater Nitrification

Science.gov (United States)

Boshers, D.; Granger, J.; Bohlke, J. K.

2016-12-01

Measurements of the naturally occurring nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios of nitrate (NO3-), δ15N and δ18O, can be used to determine the source, dispersal, and fate of natural and contaminant NO3- in aquatic environments. To this end, it is necessary to know the extent to which NO3- isotopologues are modified by biological reactions, as heavy and light isotopes have different reaction rates. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the δ18O of ambient water on the isotope composition of NO3- produced during nitrification, the biological oxidation of ammonium (NH4+) to nitrite (NO2-) and then NO3-, which is poorly constrained in freshwater systems. To determine the δ18O of NO3- produced by nitrification in freshwater, we collected water from a stream in New England, which we amended with NH4+ and with increments of 18O-enriched water, to monitor the isotope composition of NO3- produced by a natural consortium of nitrifiers. Added NH4+ was completely oxidized to NO3- over 26 days. The final δ18O of nitrified NO3- revealed sensitivity to the δ18O of water mediated by (a) isotopic equilibration between water and NO2- and (b) kinetic isotope fractionation during O-atom incorporation from water into NO2- and NO3-. Our results concur with nitrifying culture experiments that have demonstrated analogous sensitivity of the δ18O of nitrified NO3- to equilibrium and kinetic O isotope effects (Buchwald et al. 2012), as well as show that these dynamics need to be considered to interpret NO3- isotope distribution in freshwater environments.

Studies on separation of lithium isotopes by solvent extraction: Pt.1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Yaohuan; Yan Jinying; Wu Fubing

1987-01-01

The separation effects of lithium isotopes on the extraction with Sudan I(1-phenylazo-2-naphthol)-neutral ligand synergetic extraction systems are reported in this paper. Different separation effects are observed when different kinds of neutral ligands are used. Among them, the separation coefficient (α) of Sudan I-TOPO-xylene/LiCl-LiOH is found to be 1.009 ± 0.001. The heavy isotope 7 Li is enriched in the organic phase. The contributions of different structural chelating agents, synergetic agents and diluents to the separation effect are discussed. It is shown that the chelating agent played an important role in the separation effect, and the synergetic agent also exhibited obvious effect, while the shift of diluent didn't affect the separation coefficient significantly. The rates of extraction and isotope exchange equilibrium are high and these systems are shown to be diffusion-controlled ones

Stable Isotope Quantitative N-Glycan Analysis by Liquid Separation Techniques and Mass Spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Mittermayr, Stefan; Albrecht, Simone; Váradi, Csaba; Millán-Martín, Silvia; Bones, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Liquid phase separation analysis and subsequent quantitation remains a challenging task for protein-derived oligosaccharides due to their inherent structural complexity and diversity. Incomplete resolution or co-detection of multiple glycan species complicates peak area-based quantitation and associated statistical analysis when optical detection methods are used. The approach outlined herein describes the utilization of stable isotope variants of commonly used fluorescent tags that allow for mass-based glycan identification and relative quantitation following separation by liquid chromatography (LC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE). Comparability assessment of glycoprotein-derived oligosaccharides is performed by derivatization with commercially available isotope variants of 2-aminobenzoic acid or aniline and analysis by LC- and CE-mass spectrometry. Quantitative information is attained from the extracted ion chromatogram/electropherogram ratios generated from the light and heavy isotope clusters.

The simulation of stationary and non-stationary regime operation of heavy water production facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peculea, M.; Beca, T.; Constantinescu, D.M.; Dumitrescu, M.; Dimulescu, A.; Isbasescu, G.; Stefanescu, I.; Mihai, M.; Dogaru, C.; Marinescu, M.; Olariu, S.; Constantin, T.; Necula, A.

1995-01-01

This paper refers to testing procedures of the production capacity of heavy water production pilot, industrial scale plants and of heavy water reconcentration facilities. Simulation codes taking into account the mass and heat transfers inside the exchange columns were developed. These codes provided valuable insight about the isotope build-up of the installation which allowed estimating the time of reaching the stationary regime. Also transient regimes following perturbations in the operating parameters (i.e. temperature, pressure, fluid rates) of the installation were simulated and an optimal rate of routine inspections and adjustments was thus established

Thermal conductivity coefficients of water and heavy water in the liquid state up to 3700C

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Neindre, B.; Bury, P.; Tufeu, R.; Vodar, B.

1976-01-01

The thermal conductivity coefficients of water and heavy water of 99.75 percent isotopic purity were measured using a coaxial cylinder apparatus, covering room temperature to their critical temperatures, and pressures from 1 to 500 bar for water, and from 1 to 1000 bar for heavy water. Following the behavior of the thermal conductivity coefficient of water, which shows a maximum close to 135 0 C, the thermal conductivity coefficient of heavy water exhibits a maximum near 95 0 C and near saturation pressures. This maximum is displaced to higher temperatures when the pressure is increased. Under the same temperature and pressure conditions the thermal conductivity coefficient of heavy water was lower than for water. The pressure effect was similar for water and heavy water. In the temperature range of our experiments, isotherms of thermal conductivity coefficients were almost linear functions of density

Relationships of stable isotopes, water-rock interaction and salinization in fractured aquifers, Petrolina region, Pernambuco State, Brazil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Priscila Sousa, E-mail: priscila.silva@cprm.gov.br [Serviço Geológico do Brasil (CPRM), Manaus, AM (Brazil); Campos, José Eloi Guimarães; Cunha, Luciano Soares; Mancini, Luís Henrique, E-mail: eloi@unb.br, E-mail: lucianosc@unb.br, E-mail: lmancini@unb.br [Universidade de Brasília (UnB), Brasília, DF (Brazil)

2018-01-15

The Petrolina County, Pernambuco State, Brazil, presents specificities that make it unique from a hydrogeological point of view. Water resource scarcity is both a quantitative and qualitative issue. The climate is classified as semiarid, having low precipitation, along with high temperatures and evapotranspiration rates. Aquifer zones are related to low connected fractures resulting in a restricted water flow in the aquifer. The recharge is limited and the groundwater salinity is high. Stable isotope analyses of H and O were developed in groundwater samples (with different electrical conductivity) and surface water collected in a bypass channel flowing from the São Francisco River. The results were plotted in a δD ‰ versus δ{sup 18}O ‰ graph along with the curves of the global and local meteoric water line. Groundwater samples showed unexpected results showing a lighter sign pattern when compared to the meteoric waters. More negative δD and δ{sup 18}O values indicate an enrichment in light isotopes, which show that this process is not influenced by surface processes, where the enrichment occurs in heavy isotopes due to evaporation. The isotopic signature observed is interpreted either as resulting from the water-rock interaction, or as resulting from recharge from paleo rains. The waters are old and show restricted flow. So the water-rock contact time is extended. In the rock weathering processes, through the hydration of feldspars, there is preferential assimilation of heavy isotopes at the expense of the lighter ones that remain in the water. Analyses of the {sup 87}Sr/{sup 86}Sr ratio and isotopic groundwater dating assist in the interpretations. (author)

Survival and compound nucleus probability of super heavy element Z = 117

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manjunatha, H.C.; Sridhar, K.N.

2017-01-01

As a part of a systematic study for predicting the most suitable projectile-target combinations for heavy-ion fusion experiments in the synthesis of "2"8"9"-"2"9"7Ts, we have calculated the transmission probability (T_l), compound nucleus formation probabilities (P_C_N) and survival probability (P_s_u_r) of possible projectile-target combinations. We have also studied the fusion cross section, survival cross section and fission cross sections for different projectile-target combination of "2"8"9"-"2"9"7Ts. These theoretical parameters are required before the synthesis of the super heavy element. The calculated probabilities and cross sections show that the production of isotopes of the super heavy element with Z = 117 is strongly dependent on the reaction systems. The most probable reactions to synthetize the super heavy nuclei "2"8"9"-"2"9"7Ts are worked out and listed explicitly. We have also studied the variation of P_C_N and P_s_u_r with the mass number of projectile and target nuclei. This work is useful in the synthesis of the super heavy element Z = 117. (orig.)

Mass dependence of spectral and angular distributions of Cherenkov radiation from relativistic isotopes in solid radiators and its possible application as mass selector

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdanov, O. V.; Rozhkova, E. I.; Pivovarov, Yu. L.; Kuzminchuk-Feuerstein, N.

2018-02-01

The first proof of principle experiment with a prototype of a Time-of-Flight (TOF) - Cherenkov detector of relativistic heavy ions (RHI) exploiting a liquid Iodine Naphthalene radiator has been performed at Cave C at GSI (Darmstadt, Germany). A conceptual design for a liquid Cherenkov detector was proposed as a prototype for the future TOF measurements at the Super-FRS by detection of total number of Cherenkov photons. The ionization energy loss of RHI in a liquid radiator decreases only slightly this number, while in a solid radiator changes sufficiently not the total number of ChR photons, but ChR angular and spectral distributions. By means of computer simulations, we showed that these distributions are very sensitive to the isotope mass, due to different stopping powers of isotopes with initial equal relativistic factors. The results of simulations for light (Li, Be) and heavy (Xe) isotopes at 500-1000 MeV/u are presented indicating the possibility to use the isotopic effect in ChR of RHI as the mass selector.

Measurements of the isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrstroem, N.Y.

1985-01-01

The galactic cosmic-ray boron and carbon isotopic composition has been measured. The boron measurement is the first ever made in nuclear emulsion. The carbon measurement has substantially improved the statistical assuracy in the determination of the 13 C abundance as compared to an earlier measurement using the same technique. Mass-spectra of cosmic-ray carbon and oxygen in different zenith angle intervals have been compared with calculated spectra. The method makes it possible to study experimentally the atmospheric influence on the primary cosmic-ray isotopic composition. Photometric measurements on fragments from oxygen-induced interactions in nuclear emulsion have been made. Accurate charge assignments have been made on all heavy fragments which has made it possible to study the interaction exclusively event-by-event. Measurements on the isotopic composition of primary cosmic-ray neom have been made. The data are from the Danish-French instrument on the HEAO-3 satellite. The rigidity dependent filtering of the cosmic rays by the Earth's magnetic field has been used. The energy dependence of the 22 Ne/ 20 Ne-ratio and its astrophysical implications are discussed. (Author)

Gas stripping and recirculation process in heavy water separation plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazzer, D.B.; Thayer, V.R.

1976-01-01

Hydrogen sulfide is stripped from hot effluent, in a heavy water separation plant of the dual temperature isotope separation type, by taking liquid effluent from the hot tower before passage through the humidifier, passing the liquid through one or more throttle devices to flash-off the H 2 S gas content, and feeding the gas into an absorption tower containing incoming feed water, for recycling of the gas through the process

Can a sponge fractionate isotopes?

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, B; Patel, S; Balani, M C

1985-03-22

The study has unequivocally demonstrated that siliceous sponges Spirastrella cuspidifera and Prostylyssa foetida from the same microecological niche exhibit a high degree of species specificity, while accumulating a host of heavy metal ions (Ni, Cr, Cd, Sn, Ti, Mo, Zr). S. cuspidifera accumulated, in addition, 60Co and 63Ni, showing discrimination against other radionuclides, 137Cs and 131I, present in the ambient waters receiving controlled low level waste discharges from a B.W.R. nuclear power station. P. foetida, on the other hand, accumulated only 131I and showed discrimination against other radionuclides including 60Co, although the stable iodine concentrations in both the sponges were the same. The specific activity of 60Co (in becquerels per gram of 59Co) in S. cuspidifera and 131I (in becquerels per gram of 127I) in P. foetida were at least two orders of magnitude greater than in the ambient sea water. That of 63Ni (in becquerels per gram of 62Ni) in S. cuspidifera, on the other hand, was lower by two orders of magnitude than in either abiotic matrices from the same environment. Thus, not only did both the species show bioaccumulation of a specific element, but also preferential uptake of isotopes of the same element, though they were equally available for intake. Such differential uptake of isotopes can possibly be explained in terms of two quite different mechanisms operating, each applicable in a particular case. One is that the xenobiotic isotope enters the environment in a physicochemical form or as a complex different from that of its natural counterpart. If equilibration with the latter is slow, so that the organism acquires the xenobiotic in an unfamiliar chemical context, it may treat it as a chemically distinct entity so that its concentration factor differs from that of stable isotope, thus changing the specific activity. Alternatively, if the xenobiotic is present in the same chemical form as the stable isotope, the only way in which specific

Moisture source in the Hyblean Mountains region (south-eastern Sicily, Italy): Evidence from stable isotopes signature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grassa, Fausto [Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, Via Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146 Palermo (Italy)]. E-mail: f.grassa@pa.ingv.it; Favara, Rocco [Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, Via Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146 Palermo (Italy); Valenza, Mariano [Dipartimento CFTA, Universita di Palermo, Palermo, Via Archirafi, 36, 90123, Palermo (Italy)

2006-12-15

Here the authors present results of an isotope study on precipitation collected during a 2-a period from a rain-gauge network consisting of 6 stations located at different elevations in the Hyblean Mountains (HM) region, in south-eastern Sicily. The slope of the local meteoric water line ({delta}D = 6.50 {delta} {sup 18}O + 9.87) obtained for the region suggests that precipitation is affected by evaporation during rainfall events. The main variations in rainwater isotope composition are due to seasonal effects and elevation. An average {sup 2}H excess value of +21.2 per mille was found for precipitation events less affected by evaporation (i.e. when the rainfall was >65 mm/month). The spatial distribution of O isotope composition of precipitation shows a negative gradient from east and south to the inner areas. The depositional rate of Cl, used as a tracer of the origin of air masses, is highest at the coastal rain-gauges (SR and MRG stations) and lowest on the northern flank of the HM region (SC station). Based on these findings, a model is proposed for the origin of precipitation in the HM region, which assumes that a Mediterranean-derived component is the main source of moisture in the studied area. D/H and {sup 18}O/{sup 16}O ratios of inferred meteoric recharge waters were also compared with the isotope composition of waters collected from the main local springs and wells. The best linear fit of the {delta} {sup 18}O vs {delta}D relationship for Hyblean groundwater is {delta}D = 4.85 {delta} {sup 18}O-2.01. The enrichment of heavy isotopes in Hyblean groundwater is probably due to evaporation occurring after precipitation events or to a recharging contribution from surface waters (lakes or rivers) enriched in heavy isotopes.

Moisture source in the Hyblean Mountains region (south-eastern Sicily, Italy): Evidence from stable isotopes signature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grassa, Fausto; Favara, Rocco; Valenza, Mariano

2006-01-01

Here the authors present results of an isotope study on precipitation collected during a 2-a period from a rain-gauge network consisting of 6 stations located at different elevations in the Hyblean Mountains (HM) region, in south-eastern Sicily. The slope of the local meteoric water line (δD = 6.50 δ 18 O + 9.87) obtained for the region suggests that precipitation is affected by evaporation during rainfall events. The main variations in rainwater isotope composition are due to seasonal effects and elevation. An average 2 H excess value of +21.2 per mille was found for precipitation events less affected by evaporation (i.e. when the rainfall was >65 mm/month). The spatial distribution of O isotope composition of precipitation shows a negative gradient from east and south to the inner areas. The depositional rate of Cl, used as a tracer of the origin of air masses, is highest at the coastal rain-gauges (SR and MRG stations) and lowest on the northern flank of the HM region (SC station). Based on these findings, a model is proposed for the origin of precipitation in the HM region, which assumes that a Mediterranean-derived component is the main source of moisture in the studied area. D/H and 18 O/ 16 O ratios of inferred meteoric recharge waters were also compared with the isotope composition of waters collected from the main local springs and wells. The best linear fit of the δ 18 O vs δD relationship for Hyblean groundwater is δD = 4.85 δ 18 O-2.01. The enrichment of heavy isotopes in Hyblean groundwater is probably due to evaporation occurring after precipitation events or to a recharging contribution from surface waters (lakes or rivers) enriched in heavy isotopes

Process for the production of heavy water by H2-methylamine isotopic exchange

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briec, M.; Ravoire, J.; Rostaing, M.

1977-01-01

An isotopic exchange process for separating D 2 from H 2 is presented. The H 2 -monomethylamine system is studied on the laboratory scale (kinetics, H 2 solubility, thermal stability and solubility of the catalyst) and on the pilot plant scale (operating conditions and economics) [fr

Elimination of radionuclides and heavy metals from soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Navarcik, I.; Cipakova, A.; Palagyl, S.

1994-01-01

Sorption and desorption of radionuclides and heavy metals, their vertical migration and gradual extraction from soils were studied. Tessier sequential extraction method was used for determination the physicochemical forms of radionuclides and heavy metals absorbed by root system of plants and leached into ground water. Fixed forms of heavy metals and radionuclides are prevailing in soils. As to artificial ( 90 Sr, 137 Cs) isotope ratio of fixed forms bound with soil components, it is higher for 137 Cs (black earth - 95%, sandy soil - 62%) as compared to 90 Sr. Mobilization procedures for elimination of unfavourable influence of these pollutants in soils were used. The bacteria Pseudomonas sp. and Micrococcus l. are applied for this purpose. At the same time the growing of technical plants (Linum usitatissimum L. and Brassica napus L. var.) was studied as a method for mobilizing the heavy metals and radionuclides from soils. Retardation influence of bacteria on 85 Sr was noticed after as much as 3 months. The sum of water-soluble and exchangeable fractions reached 60%. Values of Cs distribution proved that microorganisms or plants used had no appreciable influence on Cs-mobility. After 3 months the relative ratio of accessible fraction increased with about 5%. As to heavy metals, both bacteria and plant growing influenced their retardation. In the case of Cd, one month operation of microorganisms resulted in important increase of easily available Cd-ratio (about 25%) in soils. (author)

Observation of new levels for isotope separation in atomic uranium by multistep ionization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, L.R.; Solarz, R.W.; Paisne, J.A.; Worden, E.F.; May, C.A.; Johnson, S.A.

1975-01-01

Over 100 new odd parity levels useful for isotope separation of U(I) were observed between 32,660--34,165 cm -1 using multistep photoionization. A tabulation of typical cross sections and radiative lifetimes for these states is given. The extension of this technique to mapping the spectra of other heavy atoms is discussed

High-energy elastic recoil detection heavy ions for light element analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goppelt-Langer, P.; Yamamoto, S.; Takeshita, H.; Aoki, Y.; Naramoto, H.

1994-01-01

The detection of light and medium heavy elements in not homogeneous solids is a severe problem in ion beam analysis. Heavy elements can be detected by the well established Rutherford backscattering technique (RBS). In a homogeneous host material most impurities can be easily analyzed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). Some isotopes ( 3 He, 6 Li, 10 B) can be measured by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) using thermal neutrons inducing (n, p) or (n, α) reactions. Others can be detected by energetic ion beams by nuclear reactions (e.g. 15 N( 1 H, αγ) 12 C for analysis of hydrogen). A high content of H, D or T can be also determined by elastic recoil detection using an energetic He beam. The latter technique has been developed to a universal method for detection of light and heavy elements in any target, using a high energetic heavy ion beam and a detector system, which is able to identify the recoils and delivers energy and position of the particles. (author)

Microscopic study of neutron-rich dysprosium isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vargas, Carlos E.; Velazquez, Victor; Lerma, Sergio

2013-01-01

Microscopic studies in heavy nuclei are very scarce due to large valence spaces involved. This computational problem can be avoided by means of the use of symmetry-based models. Ground-state, γ and β bands, and their B(E2) transition strengths in 160-168 Dy isotopes, are studied in the framework of the pseudo-SU(3) model which includes the preserving symmetry Q . Q term and the symmetry-breaking Nilsson and pairing terms, systematically parametrized. Additionally, three rotor-like terms are considered, whose free parameters, fixed for all members of the chain, are used to fine tune the moment of inertia of rotational bands and the band head of γ and β bands. The model succesfully describes in a systematic way rotational features in these nuclei and allows to extrapolate toward the midshell nucleus 170 Dy. The results presented show that it is possible to study a full chain of isotopes or isotones in the region with the present model. (orig.)

Microscopic study of neutron-rich dysprosium isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vargas, Carlos E. [Universidad Veracruzana, Facultad de Fisica e Inteligencia Artificial, Xalapa (Mexico); Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Facultad de Ciencias, Apartado Postal 70-542, Mexico D.F. (Mexico); Velazquez, Victor [Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Facultad de Ciencias, Apartado Postal 70-542, Mexico D.F. (Mexico); Lerma, Sergio [Universidad Veracruzana, Facultad de Fisica e Inteligencia Artificial, Xalapa (Mexico)

2013-01-15

Microscopic studies in heavy nuclei are very scarce due to large valence spaces involved. This computational problem can be avoided by means of the use of symmetry-based models. Ground-state, {gamma} and {beta} bands, and their B(E2) transition strengths in {sup 160-168}Dy isotopes, are studied in the framework of the pseudo-SU(3) model which includes the preserving symmetry Q . Q term and the symmetry-breaking Nilsson and pairing terms, systematically parametrized. Additionally, three rotor-like terms are considered, whose free parameters, fixed for all members of the chain, are used to fine tune the moment of inertia of rotational bands and the band head of {gamma} and {beta} bands. The model succesfully describes in a systematic way rotational features in these nuclei and allows to extrapolate toward the midshell nucleus {sup 170}Dy. The results presented show that it is possible to study a full chain of isotopes or isotones in the region with the present model. (orig.)

Isotope separation using vibrationally excited molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woodroffe, J.A.; Keck, J.C.

1979-01-01

Vibrational excitation of molecules having components of a selected isotope type is used to produce a conversion from vibrational to translational excitation of the molecules by collision with the molecules of a heavy carrier gas. The resulting difference in translaton between the molecules of the selected isotope type and all other molecules of the same compound permits their separate collection. When applied to uranium enrichment, a subsonic cryogenic flow of molecules of uranium hexafluoride in combination with an argon carrier gas is directed through a cooled chamber that is illuminated by laser radiaton tuned to vibrationally excite the uranium hexafluoride molecules of a specific uranium isotope. The excited molecules collide with carrier gas molecules, causing a conversion of the excitation energy into a translation of the excited molecule, which results in a higher thermal energy or diffusivity than that of the other uranium hexafluoride molecules. The flowing molecules including the excited molecules directly enter a set of cryogenically cooled channels. The higher thermal velocity of the excited molecules increases the probability of their striking a collector surface. The molecules which strike this surface immediately condense. After a predetermined thickness of molecules is collected on the surface, the flow of uranium hexafluoride is interrupted and the chamber heated to the point of vaporization of the collected hexafluoride, permitting its removal. (LL)

Determination of isotopic composition of uranium in microparticles by secondary ion mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veniaminov, N.N.; Kolesnikov, O.N.; Stebel'kov, V.A.

1992-01-01

Aerosol particles including uranium in their composition are specific atmospheric polutants. Uranium is used as nuclear fuel in atomic power stations and in spacecraft power units, and also as a component of nuclear warheads. In order to monitor the discharge of uranium-containing aerosol particles to the atmosphere, they must first be identified. As an example, one may cite an investigation of the elemental composition and radioactivity of particles formed in the accident at the Chernobyl atomic power station. One of the most informative indicators of the origin of uranium-containing aerosol particles is the isotopic composition of the uranium. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) offers unique possibilities for the measurement of isotope ratios in individual microscopic objects. At the same time, a measurement of isotope ratios of sulfur in microsection of galenite PbS 2 has shown that the application of SIMS for these purposes is seriously limited by the difference in yield of secondary ions for isotopes with different masses. These discrimination effects, in the case of light elements such as boron, may result in distortion of the isotope ratios by several percent. In the case of heavy elements, however, the effect is less significant, amounting to about 0.5% for lead isotopes. 13 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

Mixed filling for the successive isotopic exchange in the phase sequence water - water vapors - hydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanescu, D.; Peculea, M.; Hirean, I.; Croitoru, C.

1995-01-01

The paper deals with the process of the isotopic exchange implied in heavy water production. Details concerning the structural arrangement of the process contact elements inside the exchange columns are presented. A hydrophilic filling, based on phosphorous bronze, and the platinum catalyst structure , resulted from this work, are to be implemented in the column equipment of the heavy water distillation pilot operating in connection with the CANDU type reactors. The performances of the mixed catalyst components were derived from experimental data by means of the three fluids model equations

Measured and simulated heavy-ion beam loss patterns at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Science.gov (United States)

Hermes, P. D.; Bruce, R.; Jowett, J. M.; Redaelli, S.; Salvachua Ferrando, B.; Valentino, G.; Wollmann, D.

2016-05-01

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN pushes forward to new regimes in terms of beam energy and intensity. In view of the combination of very energetic and intense beams together with sensitive machine components, in particular the superconducting magnets, the LHC is equipped with a collimation system to provide protection and intercept uncontrolled beam losses. Beam losses could cause a superconducting magnet to quench, or in the worst case, damage the hardware. The collimation system, which is optimized to provide a good protection with proton beams, has shown a cleaning efficiency with heavy-ion beams which is worse by up to two orders of magnitude. The reason for this reduced cleaning efficiency is the fragmentation of heavy-ion beams into isotopes with a different mass to charge ratios because of the interaction with the collimator material. In order to ensure sufficient collimation performance in future ion runs, a detailed theoretical understanding of ion collimation is needed. The simulation of heavy-ion collimation must include processes in which 82 + 208Pb ions fragment into dozens of new isotopes. The ions and their fragments must be tracked inside the magnetic lattice of the LHC to determine their loss positions. This paper gives an overview of physical processes important for the description of heavy-ion loss patterns. Loss maps simulated by means of the two tools ICOSIM [1,2] and the newly developed STIER (SixTrack with Ion-Equivalent Rigidities) are compared with experimental data measured during LHC operation. The comparison shows that the tool STIER is in better agreement.

Cd isotopes as a potential source tracer of metal pollution in river sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Bo; Zhou, Haidong; Liang, Xirong; Tu, Xianglin

2013-01-01

Tracing the sources of heavy metals in water environment is key important for our understanding of their pollution behavior. In this present study, Cd concentrations and Cd isotopic compositions in sediments were determined to effectively identify possible Cd sources. Results showed that elevated concentrations and high enrichment factor for Cd were found in all sediments, suggesting anthropogenic Cd origin. Cd isotopic compositions in sediments yielded relative variations ranged from −0.35‰ to 0.07‰ in term of δ 114/110 Cd (the mean: −0.08‰). Large fractionated Cd was found in sediments collected from a smelter and an E-waste town. Cd isotopic compositions and Cd concentrations measured in sediments allowed the identification of three main origins (dust from metal refining (δ 114/110 Cd 114/110 Cd > 0), and those δ 114/110 Cd = 0, such as background and mining activity). According to the actual precision obtained, Cd isotopes could be a potential tool for tracing metal pollution sources in water environment. -- The information and application of Cd isotopic compositions will provide a new direction in tracing metal pollution in water environment

Covariance of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions in plant water: species effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, L.W.; DeNiro, M.J.

1989-01-01

Leaf water becomes enriched in the heavy isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen during evapotranspiration. The magnitude of the enrichment has been shown to be influenced by temperature and humidity, but the effects of species—specific factors on leaf water enrichment of D and 18 O have not been studied for different plants growing together. Accordingly, to learn whether leaf water enrichment patterns and processes for D and 18 O are different for individual species growing under the same environmental conditions we tested the proposal that leaf waters in plants with crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) show higher slopes (m in the leaf water equation °D = m ° 18 O + b) than in C 3 plants. We determined the relationships between the stable hydrogen (°D) and oxygen (° 18 O) isotope ratios of leaf waters collected during the diurnal cycle of evapotranspiration for Yucca schidigera, Ephedra aspera, Agave deserti, Prunus ilicifolia, Yucca whipplei, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Dyckia fosteriana, Simmondsia chinensis, and Encelia farinosa growing at two sites in southern California. Slopes (m in the above leaf water equation) ranged from 1.50 to 3.21, compared to °8 for meteoric water, but differences in slope could not be attributed to carboxylation pathway (CAM vs. C 3 ) nor climate (coastal California vs. Sonoran Desert). Higher slopes were correlated with greater overall ranges of leaf water enrichment of D and 18 O. Water in plants with higher slopes also differed most from unaltered meteoric water. Leaf water isotope ratios in plants with lower slopes were better correlated with temperature and humidity. The findings indicate that m in the aforementioned equation is related to the overall residence time for water in the leaf and proportions of water subjected to repeated evapotranspiration enrichments of heavy isotopes

LINAC for charge-symmetrical four-isotopic heavy-ion driver

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yudin, L.A. [MRTI RAS, Moscow (Russian Federation); Kapchinsky, M.I. [MRTI RAS, Moscow (Russian Federation); Korenev, I.L. [MRTI RAS, Moscow (Russian Federation); Koshkarev, D.G. [Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1996-11-01

A linear accelerator (linac) for single charged (positive and negative) ions of the four various Pt isotopes has been proposed. Eight beams of different charges and masses of ions are accelerated in parallel RFQ channels to an energy of 100 MeV. The beams are then brought together by a system of alternating gradient magnets for a 180 bending and matching of the beams. The main channel that accelerates all the beams together consists of three stages. The first stage (until 600 MeV) is a Wideroe structure, followed by two consecutive Alvarex channels (2.5 GeV and 10 GeV) that have different radio frequencies. The characteristics of the output beam for each kind of ions are as follows: average pulse current, 130 mA; horizontal emittance, 0.6{pi} cm mrad; vertical emittance, 0.4{pi} cm mrad; momentum spread, {+-}0.07%; bunch length, 3.6 cm; spacing between bunches of each kind, 15.3 m. (orig.)

LINAC for charge-symmetrical four-isotopic heavy-ion driver

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yudin, L.A.; Kapchinsky, M.I.; Korenev, I.L. [MRTI RAS, Moscow (Russian Federation); Koshkarev, D.G. [ITEP, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1996-12-31

A linear accelerator (linac) for single charged (positive and negative) ions of the four various Pt isotopes has been proposed. Eight beams of different charges and masses of ions are accelerated in parallel RFQ channels to an energy of 100 MeV. The beams are then brought together by a system of alternating gradient magnets for a 180{degrees} bending and matching of the beams. The main channel that accelerates all the beams together consists of three stages. The first stage (until 600 MeV) is a Wideroe structure, followed by two consecutive Alvarex channels (2.5 GeV and 10 GeV) that have different radio frequencies. The characteristics of the output beam for each kind of ions are as follows: average pulse current, 130 mA; horizontal emittance, 0.6{pi} cm mrad; vertical emittance, 0.4{pi} cm mrad; momentum spread, {+-}0.07%; bunch length, 3.6 cm; spacing between bunches of each kind, 15.3 m.

CERN Heavy-Ion Facility design report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warner, D.; Angert, N.; Bourgarel, M.P.; Brouzet, E.; Cappi, R.; Dekkers, D.; Evans, J.; Gelato, G.; Haseroth, H.; Hill, C.E.; Hutter, G.; Knott, J.; Kugler, H.; Lombardi, A.; Lustig, H.; Malwitz, E.; Nitsch, F.; Parisi, G.; Pisent, A.; Raich, U.; Ratzinger, U.; Riccati, L.; Schempp, A.; Schindl, K.; Schoenauer, H.; Tetu, P.; Umstaetter, H.H.; Rooij, M. van; Weiss, M.

1993-01-01

The design of the CERN Heavy-Ion Facility is described. This facility will be based on a new ion linear accelerator (Linac 3), together with improvements to the other accelerators of the CERN complex to allow them to cope with heavy ions, i.e. to the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB), the Proton Synchrotron (PS) and the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). For this reference design, the pure isotope of lead, 208 Pb, is considered. The bulk of the report describes Linac 3, a purpose-built heavy-ion linac mainly designed and constructed in collaboration with several CERN member state laboratories, but also with contributions from non-member states. Modifications and improvements to existing CERN accelerators essentially concern the RF acceleration, beam control and beam monitoring (all machines), beam kickers and septa at the input and output of the PSB, and major vacuum improvements, aiming to reduce the pressure by factors of at least seven and three in the PSB and PS respectively. After injection from the Electron Cyclotron Resonance source at 2.5 keV/u the partially stripped heavy-ion beam is accelerated successively by a Radio Frequency Quadrupole and an Interdigital-H linac to 4.2 MeV/u. After stripping to 208 Pb 53+ , the beam is again accelerated, firstly in the PSB (to 98.5 MeV/u), then in the PS (to 4.25 GeV/u). The final stage of acceleration in the SPS takes the fully stripped 208 Pb 82+ ions to 177 GeV/u, delivering a beam of 4.10 8 ions per SPS supercycle (15.2 s) to the experiments. The first physics run with lead ions is scheduled for the end of 1994. Finally, some requirements for carrying out heavy-ion physics at the Large Hadron Collider are mentioned. (orig.)

Isotope effects accompanying evaporation of water from leaky containers.

Science.gov (United States)

Rozanski, Kazimierz; Chmura, Lukasz

2008-03-01

Laboratory experiments aimed at quantifying isotope effects associated with partial evaporation of water from leaky containers have been performed under three different settings: (i) evaporation into dry atmosphere, performed in a dynamic mode, (ii) evaporation into dry atmosphere, performed in a static mode, and (iii) evaporation into free laboratory atmosphere. The results demonstrate that evaporative enrichment of water stored in leaky containers can be properly described in the framework of the Craig-Gordon evaporation model. The key parameter controlling the degree of isotope enrichment is the remaining fraction of water in the leaking containers. Other factors such as temperature, relative humidity, or extent of kinetic fractionation play only minor roles. Satisfactory agreement between observed and predicted isotope enrichments for both (18)O and (2)H in experiments for the case of evaporation into dry atmosphere could be obtained only when molecular diffusivity ratios of isotope water molecules as suggested recently by Cappa et al. [J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4525-4535, (2003).] were adopted. However, the observed and modelled isotope enrichments for (2)H and (18)O could be reconciled also for the ratios of molecular diffusivities obtained by Merlivat [J. Chem. Phys., 69, 2864-2871 (1978).], if non-negligible transport resistance in the viscous liquid sub-layer adjacent to the evaporating surface is considered. The evaporation experiments revealed that the loss of mass of water stored in leaky containers in the order of 1%, will lead to an increase of the heavy isotope content in this water by ca. 0.35 and 1.1 per thousand, for delta (18)O and delta (2)H, respectively.

Combined electrolysis and catalytic exchange (CECE) technology - an economical alternative for heavy water upgraders using water distillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryland, D.K.; Sadhankar, R.R.

2003-01-01

Heavy water upgrading is a unique and crucial part of a CANDU power station. Water distillation (DW) systems are used for heavy water upgrading in all CANDU stations. The DW upgrader is designed to take advantage of the difference in relative volatility (a measure of separation of isotopes) between H 2 O and D 2 O. However, the low relative volatility of the H 2 O/D 2 O system requires large number of stages (long columns) and large reflux ratios (large reboiler loads) - thus resulting in significant capital and operating costs. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) developed the Combined Electrolysis and Catalytic Exchange (CECE) technology as an economical alternative to the DW system. CECE-based upgraders have been demonstrated in pilot scale facilities at AECL Chalk River Laboratories and in Hamilton, Ontario. This design is based on catalytic hydrogen isotope exchange between water and hydrogen gas. (author)

The purification by ion exchange resins of the heavy water la the reactors EL1 and EL2. B - study of the general properties of the resins used

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fourre; Platzer

1957-01-01

Within the programme of the pile heavy water purification project, organized by the stable Isotopes Section, we have carried out a certain number of tests on ion exchange resins. The problem posed by the stable Isotopes Section was to determine the conditions of utilisation of ion exchange resins, knowing that they would be employed in a system branching off the heavy water circuit in the piles. These investigations were carried out in close collaboration with the stable Isotopes Section, and were guided chiefly by the extremely short delay permitted between the laboratory study and its application to the piles. The tests are divided into two groups: 1- General properties of the resins. 2- Utilisation of the resins, particularly in an apparatus similar to those mounted on the piles but of smaller dimensions. (author) [fr

Barium isotope geochemistry of subduction-zone magmas

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, H.; Nan, X.; Huang, J.; Wörner, G.; Huang, F.

2017-12-01

Subduction zones are crucial tectonic setting to study material exchange between crust and mantle, mantle partial melting with fluid addition, and formation of ore-deposits1-3. The geochemical characteristics of arc lavas from subduction zones are different from magmas erupted at mid-ocean ridges4, because there are addition of fluids/melts from subducted AOC and its overlying sediments into their source regions in the sub-arc mantle4. Ba is highly incompatible during mantle melting5, and it is enriched in crust (456 ppm)6 relative to the mantle (7.0 ppm)7. The subducted sediments are also enriched in Ba (776 ppm of GLOSS)8. Moreover, because Ba is fluid soluble during subduction, it has been used to track contributions of subduction-related fluids to arc magmas9 or recycled sediments to the mantle10-11. To study the Ba isotope fractionation behavior during subduction process, we analyzed well-characterized, chemically-diverse arc lavas from Central American, Kamchatka, Central-Eastern Aleutian, and Southern Lesser Antilles. The δ137/134Ba of Central American arc lavas range from -0.13 to 0.24‰, and have larger variation than the arc samples from other locations. Except one sample from Central-Eastern Aleutian arc with obviously heavy δ137/134Ba values (0.27‰), all other samples from Kamchatka, Central-Eastern Aleutian, Southern Lesser Antilles arcs are within the range of OIB. The δ137/134Ba is not correlated with the distance to trench, partial melting degrees (Mg#), or subducting slab-derived components. The samples enriched with heavy Ba isotopes have low Ba contents, indicating that Ba isotopes can be fractionated at the beginning of dehydration process with small amount of Ba releasing to the mantle wedge. With the dehydration degree increasing, more Ba of the subducted slab can be added to the source of arc lavas, likely homogenizing the Ba isotope signatures. 1. Rudnick, R., 1995 Nature; 2. Tatsumi, Y. & Kogiso, T., 2003; 3. Sun, W., et al., 2015 Ore

Independent yields of Kr and Xe isotopes for the photofission of heavy nuclei

CERN Document Server

Gangrskij, Y P; Mishinskij, G V; Penionzhkevich, Yu E; Szoelloes, O; Zhemenik, V I

2002-01-01

Presented are the yields of primary fission fragments (produced in the process of the rupture of the nucleus) of Kr (A = 87- 93) and Xe (A 148-143) for the photofission of sup 2 sup 3 sup 2 Th, sup 2 sup 3 sup 8 U and sup 2 sup 4 sup 4 Pu, which were measured using Bremsstrahlung from a microtron, the energy of accelerated electrons being 25 MeV. A technique was used that includes transportation of fragments escaped from the target with a gas flow through a capillary and the condensation of Kr and Xe inert gases in a cryostat at the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Fragments of all the other elements were retained with a filter at the entrance of the capillary. Kr and Xe isotopes were identified by the gamma spectra of their daughter products. The mass number distributions are obtained of the independent yields of Kr and Xe isotopes, which are compared with the similar characteristics for the fission induced by thermal and fast neutrons; the charge shifts for the fragments under study relative to the unchanged...

Independent Yields of Kr and Xe Isotopes for the Photofission of Heavy Nuclei

CERN Document Server

Gangrsky, Yu P; Maslova, N Yu; Penionzhkevich, Yu E; Szöllös, O; Zhemenik, V I

2002-01-01

Presented are the yields of primary fission fragments (produced in the process of the rupture of the nucleus) of Kr (A=87-93) and Xe (A=148-143) for the photofission of ^{232}Th, ^{238}U and ^{244}Pu, which were measured using bremsstrahlung from a microtron, the energy of accelerated electrons being 25 MeV. A technique was used that includes transportation of fragments escaped from the target with a gas flow through a capillary and the condensation of Kr and Xe inert gases in a cryostat at the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Fragments of all the other elements were retained with a filter at the entrance of capillary. Kr and Xe isotopes were identified by the gamma-spectra of their daughter products. The mass number distributions are obtained of the independent yields of Kr and Xe isotopes, which are compared with the similar characteristics for the fission induced by thermal and fast neutrons; the charge shifts for the fragments under study relative to the unchanged charge distribution are determined. The pe...

UNiquant, a Program for Quantitative Proteomics Analysis Using Stable Isotope Labeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Xin; Tolmachev, Aleksey V.; Shen, Yulei; Liu, Miao; Huang, Lin; Zhang, Zhixin; Anderson, Gordon A.; Smith, Richard D.; Chan, Wing C.; Hinrichs, Steven; Fu, Kai; Ding, Shi-Jian

2011-03-04

We present UNiquant, a new software program for analyzing stable isotope labeling (SIL) based quantitative proteomics data. UNiquant surpassed the performance of two other platforms, MaxQuant and Mascot Distiller, using complex proteome mixtures having either known or unknown heavy/light ratios. UNiquant is compatible with a broad spectrum of search engines and SIL methods, providing outstanding peptide pair identification and accurate measurement of the relative peptide/protein abundance.

Heavy-Ion Reactions: a current awareness bulletin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinser, W.H.

1985-01-01

This current awareness bulletin announces on a semimonthly basis the current worldwide information entered into the Energy Data Base on theoretical and experimental studies (including instrumentation) of heavy-ion (A > 4) nuclear reactions for nuclear structure studies; for producing new isotopes and superheavy elements for nuclear, atomic, and chemical properties studies; for understanding quantum chromodynamics as an exact theory of the strong nuclear force; and for studying the equations of state and phases of nuclear matter (pion condensate and quark matter) of special interest in astrophysics, and cosmology. An abstract is included with each citation. Regular publication began in January 1985

Study of the multiplication and kinetic effects of salt mixtures and salt blanket micromodels on thermal neutron spectra of heavy water MAKET facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Titarenko, Yu.E.; Batyaev, V.F.; Borovlev, S.P.; Gladkikh, N.G.; Igumnov, M.M.; Legostaev, V.O.; Karpikhin, E.I.; Konev, V.N.; Kushnerev, Yu.T.; Ryazhsky, V.I.; Spiridonov, V.G.; Chernyavsky, E.V.; Shvedov, O.V.

2009-10-01

The main goal of the Project is to study and evaluate nuclear characteristics of materials and isotopes involved in processes of irradiated nuclear fuel transmutation. This principal task is subdivided into 9 subtasks subject to the neutron or proton source used, the type of the nuclear process under study, isotope collection, characteristics of which are to be investigated, etc. In the presented extract of the Project Activity report the measurements there were used the MAKET zero-power heavy-water reactor in the measurements there was employed a large set of minor actinide samples highly enriched with the main isotope. The samples were obtained with mass-separator SM-2 (VNIIEF). At the heavy-water reactor MAKET (ITEP) there were measured multiplying and kinetic characteristics of salt mixtures basing on the spectra of fast and thermal neutrons. The salt mixtures of zirconium and sodium fluorides were available in salt blanket models (SBM) of cylindrical shape. There were measured the neutron spectra formed by this micro-model as well as the effective fission cross-sections of neptunium, plutonium, americium and curium isotopes caused by SBM neutrons. The neutron spectra in the measurement positions were determined from activation reaction rates. (author)

Technical and economical feasibility studies and preliminary plan of a heavy water plant by the criogenic distillation method of hydrogen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dias Vargas, F.

1983-01-01

This paper presents the pre-feasibility study of a heavy water production plant, both from the technical and economical point of view. Criogenic distillation of hydrogen is used as the final enrichment stage. The deuterium source is water treated previously by a process of enrichment based on the water-hydrogen isotopic exchange. The economical analysis is aimed at the study of the feasibility of the installation of a heavy water moderated reaction in Chile. General properties of heavy water are presented and also the various materials of its enrichment at the industrial scale. The plant itself has a first stage based on the water-hydrogen isotopic exchange procesS, where deuterium is extracted from the water by the hydrogen which is subsequently treated in a criogenic distillation stage. An important fact of the plant analysis is the calculation of heat exchangers mainly in relation to the problem posed by tHe hydrogen's low point of liquifaction. The distillation units are also treated and designed. The economic evaluation produces project diScount rates of 15.71% and 21.97%, for 25 tons/year and 40 tons/year of production capacity. The heavy water price used for these evaluation was 600 $/Kg

Molybdenum isotope fractionation in the mantle

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Yu-Hsuan; Halliday, Alex N.; Siebert, Chris; Fitton, J. Godfrey; Burton, Kevin W.; Wang, Kuo-Lung; Harvey, Jason

2017-02-01

We report double-spike molybdenum (Mo) isotope data for forty-two mafic and fifteen ultramafic rocks from diverse locations and compare these with results for five chondrites. The δ98/95Mo values (normalized to NIST SRM 3134) range from -0.59 ± 0.04 to +0.10 ± 0.08‰. The compositions of one carbonaceous (CI) and four ordinary chondrites are relatively uniform (-0.14 ± 0.01‰, 95% ci (confidence interval)) in excellent agreement with previous data. These values are just resolvable from the mean of 10 mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) (0.00 ± 0.02‰, 95% ci). The compositions of 13 mantle-derived ultramafic xenoliths from Kilbourne Hole, Tariat and Vitim are more diverse (-0.39 to -0.07‰) with a mean of -0.22 ± 0.06‰ (95% ci). On this basis, the isotopic composition of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE or Primitive Mantle) is within error identical to chondrites. The mean Mo concentration of the ultramafic xenoliths (0.19 ± 0.07 ppm, 95% ci) is similar in magnitude to that of MORB (0.48 ± 0.13 ppm, 95% ci), providing evidence, either for a more compatible behaviour than previously thought or for selective Mo enrichment of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Intraplate and ocean island basalts (OIBs) display significant isotopic variability within a single locality from MORB-like to strongly negative (-0.59 ± 0.04‰). The most extreme values measured are for nephelinites from the Cameroon Line and Trinidade, which also have anomalously high Ce/Pb and low Mo/Ce relative to normal oceanic basalts. δ98/95Mo correlates negatively with Ce/Pb and U/Pb, and positively with Mo/Ce, explicable if a phase such as an oxide or a sulphide liquid selectively retains isotopically heavy Mo in the mantle and fractionates its isotopic composition in low degree partial melts. If residual phases retain Mo during partial melting, it is possible that the [Mo] for the BSE may be misrepresented by values estimated from basalts. This would be consistent with the high Mo

The electric dipole response of neutron rich tin isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horvat, Andrea; Aumann, Thomas; Rossi, Dominic; Schindler, Fabia [Institut fuer Kernphysik, TU Darmstadt (Germany); Boretzky, Konstanze [GSI Helmholzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany); Johansen, Jacob [Aarhus University (Denmark); Schrock, Philipp [The University of Tokyo (Japan); Collaboration: R3B-Collaboration

2016-07-01

Studies of the dipole response in medium heavy and heavy neutron rich nuclei reveal valuable information about the isospin dependence of the nuclear equation of state. Therefore an experimental campaign investigating both the electric dipole response via Coulomb excitation and neutron removal along the tin isotope chain ({sup 124-134}Sn) has been carried out at the R3B (Reactions with Relativistic Radioactive Beams) setup at GSI (Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung) for which the analysis is ongoing. The E1 response was induced via relativistic Coulomb scattering by a lead target in inverse kinematics, and calls for a kinematically complete determination of all reaction products in order to reconstruct the excitation energy by means of the invariant mass method. The goal is to obtain the Coulomb excitation cross section up to the adiabatic cut-off energy, covering the giant dipole resonance (GDR) range.

Cr-isotope fractionation during oxidative weathering of ultramafic rocks and its impact on river waters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paulukat, Cora Stefanie; Døssing, Lasse Nørbye; Mondal, Sisir K.

We investigated Cr isotope fractionation during soil formation from Precambrian ultramafic rocks. A soil profile was logged in an active open-cast chromite mine (Sukinda Valley, India). In addition, mine and river waters, as well as seawater were collected to trace the Cr-isotope signal...... values as heavy as +1.33±0.05‰. Where the drainage water merges with the river water, a slightly positively fractionated δ53Cr value (0.03±0.019‰) reflects a mixed isotope signal. With increasing distance from the mine, river water δ53Cr again becomes increasingly positively fractionated, indicating...... into the sea. The aim of the study is to recognize Cr isotope fractionation processes within the mining-area and the impact of the mine runoff on the δ53Cr of the nearby river. The weathering profile shows a distinct upward trend to more negative δ53Cr values. While the well preserved rocks at the base closely...

Chemical Ligation and Isotope Labeling to Locate Dynamic Effects during Catalysis by Dihydrofolate Reductase.

Science.gov (United States)

Luk, Louis Y P; Ruiz-Pernía, J Javier; Adesina, Aduragbemi S; Loveridge, E Joel; Tuñón, Iñaki; Moliner, Vincent; Allemann, Rudolf K

2015-07-27

Chemical ligation has been used to alter motions in specific regions of dihydrofolate reductase from E. coli and to investigate the effects of localized motional changes on enzyme catalysis. Two isotopic hybrids were prepared; one with the mobile N-terminal segment containing heavy isotopes ((2) H, (13) C, (15) N) and the remainder of the protein with natural isotopic abundance, and the other one with only the C-terminal segment isotopically labeled. Kinetic investigations indicated that isotopic substitution of the N-terminal segment affected only a physical step of catalysis, whereas the enzyme chemistry was affected by protein motions from the C-terminal segment. QM/MM studies support the idea that dynamic effects on catalysis mostly originate from the C-terminal segment. The use of isotope hybrids provides insights into the microscopic mechanism of dynamic coupling, which is difficult to obtain with other studies, and helps define the dynamic networks of intramolecular interactions central to enzyme catalysis. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Composition of heavy ions in solar energetic particle events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, C.Y.; Gloeckler, G.

1983-01-01

The elemental, charge state, and isotopic composition of approximately 1 to 20 MeV per nucleon ions in solar energetic particle (SEP) events was determined and current understanding of the nature of solar and interplanetary processes which may explain the observations are outlined. The composition within individual SEP events may vary both with time and energy, and will in general be different from that in other SEP events. Average values of relative abundances measured in a large number of SEP events, however are found to be roughly energy independent in the approximately 1 to approximately 20 MeV per nucleon range, and show a systematic deviation from photospheric abundances which seem to be organized in terms of the first ionization potential of the ion. Direct measurements of the charge states of SEPs have revealed the surprisingly common presence of energetic He(+) along with heavy ions with typical coronal ionization states. High resolution measurements of isotopic abundance ratios in a small number of SEP events show these to be consistent with the universal composition except for the puzzling overabundance of the SEP Ne-22 relative to this isotopes ratio in the solar wind

Relative quantification of enantiomers of chiral amines by high-throughput LC–ESI-MS/MS using isotopic variants of light and heavy L-pyroglutamic acids as the derivatization reagents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mochizuki, Toshiki; Taniguchi, Sayuri; Tsutsui, Haruhito; Min, Jun Zhe; Inoue, Koichi; Todoroki, Kenichiro; Toyo’oka, Toshimasa

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Development of chiral labeling reagent for a pair of amine enantiomers. ► High-throughput analysis of diastereomers by UPLC–ESI-MS/MS. ► Highly efficient separation and detection of the enantiomers. ► Differential analysis of enantiomer ratio in different sample groups using light and heavy labeling reagents. -- Abstract: L-Pyroglutamic acid (L-PGA) was evaluated as a chiral labeling reagent for the enantioseparation of chiral amines in terms of separation efficiency by reversed-phase chromatography and detection sensitivity by ESI-MS/MS. Several amines and amino acid methyl esters were used as typical representatives of the chiral amines. Both enantiomers of the chiral amines were easily labeled with L-PGAs at room temperature for 60 min in the presence of 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide and 1-hydroxy-1H-benzotriazole as the activation reagents. The resulting diastereomers were completely separated by reversed-phase chromatography using the small particle (1.7 μm) ODS column (Rs = 1.6–6.8). A highly sensitive detection at a low-fmol level (1–4 fmol) was also obtained from the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) chromatograms. Therefore, a high-throughput determination was achieved by the present UPLC–ESI-MS/MS method. An isotope labeling strategy using light and heavy L-PGAs for the differential analysis of chiral amines in different sample groups was also proposed in this paper. As a model study, the differential analysis of the R and S ratio of 1-phenylethylamine (PEA) was performed according to the proposed procedure using light and heavy reagents, i.e., L-PGA and L-PGA-d 5 . The R/S ratio of PEA, spiked at the different concentrations in rat plasma, was almost similar to the theoretical values. Consequently, the proposed strategy using light and heavy chiral labeling reagents seems to be applicable for the differential analysis of chiral amine enantiomers in different sample groups, such as healthy persons and

Stable isotope variations in benthic primary producers along the Bosphorus (Turkey): A preliminary study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calizza, Edoardo; Aktan, Yelda; Costantini, Maria Letizia; Rossi, Loreto

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Nitrogen pollution along the Bosphorus Strait was investigated. • C and N isotopic and elemental analyses on benthic primary producers were performed. • δ 15 N decreased, while δ 13 C and N% increased from north to south along the Strait. • Ulva lactuca was more useful than epiphytes as indicator of nitrogen pollution. • Preliminary isotopic analyses on resident organisms are useful monitoring tools. - Abstract: The Bosphorus Strait is a dynamic and complex system. Recent evidences showed nitrogen and heavy metal concentrations to follow opposite patterns across the Strait, suggesting a complex spatial organisation of the anthropogenic disturbance in this system. Here, we provide isotopic information on the origin and transportation of dissolved nitrogen along the Bosphorus. C and N isotopic and elemental analyses were performed on specimens of Ulva lactuca and associated epiphytes sampled in five locations across the Strait. Variations in C and N isotopic signatures were observed in U. lactuca, pointing to a decrease in the availability of anthropogenic organic dissolved nitrogen along a north-south direction. Conversely, epiphytes did not show isotopic or elemental patterns across the Strait. These results suggest that preliminary stable isotope surveys in extended costal systems basing on U. lactuca can represent a valuable tool to focus meaningful targets and hypotheses for pollution studies in the Mediterranean region

Design of the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator ARIS at FRIB

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hausmann, M., E-mail: hausmann@frib.msu.edu [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Aaron, A.M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Amthor, A.M. [Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837 (United States); Avilov, M.; Bandura, L.; Bennett, R.; Bollen, G.; Borden, T. [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Burgess, T.W. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Chouhan, S.S. [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Graves, V.B. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Mittig, W. [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Morrissey, D.J. [National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Pellemoine, F.; Portillo, M.; Ronningen, R.M.; Schein, M. [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Sherrill, B.M. [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Zeller, A. [Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)

2013-12-15

The Facility for Rare Isotopes Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University will use projectile fragmentation and induced in-flight fission of heavy-ion primary beams at energies of 200 MeV/u and higher and at a beam power of 400 kW to generate rare isotope beams for experiments in nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, and fundamental symmetries, as well as for societal needs. The Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS) has been designed as a three-stage fragment separator for the efficient collection and purification of the rare isotope beams of interest. A vertically bending preseparator (first stage) with production target and beam dump is fully integrated into a production target facility hot cell with remote handling. The new separator compresses the accepted momentum width of up to ±5% of the beam by a factor of three in the standard operational mode. Provisions for alternate operational modes for specific cases are included in the design. This preseparator is followed by two, horizontally-bending separator stages (second and third stages) utilizing the magnets from the existing A1900 fragment separator at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). These stages can alternatively be coupled to a single high-resolution separator stage, resulting in the flexibility to optimize the operation for different experiments, including momentum tagging and in-flight particle identification of rare isotope beams. The design of ARIS will be presented with an emphasis on beam physics characteristics, and anticipated operational modes will be described.

Storm runoff analysis using environmental isotopes and major ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, P.; Cherry, J.A.; Sklash, M.; Weyer, K.U.

1976-01-01

At a given locality the oxygen-18 content of rainwater varies from storm to storm but within broad seasonal trends. Very frequently, especially during heavy summer storms, the stable isotope composition of rainwater differs from that of the groundwater in the area. This isotopic difference can be used to differentiate between 'prestorm' and 'rain' components in storm runoff. This approach to the use of natural 18 O was applied in four hydrogeologically very different basins in Canada. Their surface areas range from less than 2km 2 to more than 700km 2 . Before, during and after the storm events samples of stream water, groundwater and rain were analysed for 18 O and in some cases for deuterium, major ions and electrical conductance. The 18 O hydrograph separations show that groundwater was a major component of the runoff in each of the basins, and usually exceeded 50% of the total water discharged. Even at peak stream flow most of discharge was subsurface water. The identification of geographic sources rather than time sources appears possible if isotope techniques are used in conjunction with chemical analyses, hydrological data - such as flow measurements - and visual observations. (author)

Titanium stable isotope investigation of magmatic processes on the Earth and Moon

Science.gov (United States)

Millet, Marc-Alban; Dauphas, Nicolas; Greber, Nicolas D.; Burton, Kevin W.; Dale, Chris W.; Debret, Baptiste; Macpherson, Colin G.; Nowell, Geoffrey M.; Williams, Helen M.

2016-09-01

We present titanium stable isotope measurements of terrestrial magmatic samples and lunar mare basalts with the aims of constraining the composition of the lunar and terrestrial mantles and evaluating the potential of Ti stable isotopes for understanding magmatic processes. Relative to the OL-Ti isotope standard, the δ49Ti values of terrestrial samples vary from -0.05 to +0.55‰, whereas those of lunar mare basalts vary from -0.01 to +0.03‰ (the precisions of the double spike Ti isotope measurements are ca. ±0.02‰ at 95% confidence). The Ti stable isotope compositions of differentiated terrestrial magmas define a well-defined positive correlation with SiO2 content, which appears to result from the fractional crystallisation of Ti-bearing oxides with an inferred isotope fractionation factor of ΔTi49oxide-melt = - 0.23 ‰ ×106 /T2. Primitive terrestrial basalts show no resolvable Ti isotope variations and display similar values to mantle-derived samples (peridotite and serpentinites), indicating that partial melting does not fractionate Ti stable isotopes and that the Earth's mantle has a homogeneous δ49Ti composition of +0.005 ± 0.005 (95% c.i., n = 29). Eclogites also display similar Ti stable isotope compositions, suggesting that Ti is immobile during dehydration of subducted oceanic lithosphere. Lunar basalts have variable δ49Ti values; low-Ti mare basalts have δ49Ti values similar to that of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) while high-Ti lunar basalts display small enrichment in the heavy Ti isotopes. This is best interpreted in terms of source heterogeneity resulting from Ti stable isotope fractionation associated with ilmenite-melt equilibrium during the generation of the mantle source of high-Ti lunar mare basalts. The similarity in δ49Ti between terrestrial samples and low-Ti lunar basalts provides strong evidence that the Earth and Moon have identical stable Ti isotope compositions.

Source identification of heavy metal contamination using metal association and Pb isotopes in Ulsan Bay sediments, East Sea, Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chae, Jung Sun; Choi, Man Sik; Song, Yun Ho; Um, In Kwon; Kim, Jae Gon

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The levels of Cu, Zn, and Pb in sediments were higher than the Korean TEL at one-third of all sites. • The primary source of metal contamination came from activities related to nonferrous metal refineries near Onsan Harbor. • Three different anthropogenic sources and background sediments could be identified as endmembers using Pb isotopes. • The major anthropogenic Pb sources were identified as imported ores from Australia and Peru. • Isotope ratios in anthropogenic Pb discharged from Ulsan Bay to offshore could be identified. - Abstract: To determine the characteristics of metal pollution sources in Ulsan Bay, East Sea, 39 surface and nine core sediments were collected within the bay and offshore area, and analyzed for metals and stable lead (Pb) isotopes. Most surface sediments (>95% from 48 sites) had high copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and Pb concentrations that were as much as 1.3 times higher than background values. The primary source of metal contamination came from activities related to nonferrous metal refineries near Onsan Harbor, and the next largest source was from shipbuilding companies located at the mouth of the Taehwa River. Three different anthropogenic sources and background sediments could be identified as end-members using Pb isotopes. Isotopic ratios for the anthropogenic Pb revealed that the sources were imported ores from Australia, Peru, and the United States. In addition, Pb isotopes of anthropogenic Pb discharged from Ulsan Bay toward offshore could be determined

Mechanistic investigations of the hydrolysis of amides, oxoesters and thioesters via kinetic isotope effects and positional isotope exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Robins, Lori I; Fogle, Emily J; Marlier, John F

2015-11-01

The hydrolysis of amides, oxoesters and thioesters is an important reaction in both organic chemistry and biochemistry. Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) are one of the most important physical organic methods for determining the most likely transition state structure and rate-determining step of these reaction mechanisms. This method induces a very small change in reaction rates, which, in turn, results in a minimum disturbance of the natural mechanism. KIE studies were carried out on both the non-enzymatic and the enzyme-catalyzed reactions in an effort to compare both types of mechanisms. In these studies the amides and esters of formic acid were chosen because this molecular structure allowed development of methodology to determine heavy-atom solvent (nucleophile) KIEs. This type of isotope effect is difficult to measure, but is rich in mechanistic information. Results of these investigations point to transition states with varying degrees of tetrahedral character that fit a classical stepwise mechanism. This article is part of a special issue entitled: Enzyme Transition States from Theory and Experiment. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AUTOSECOL: an automatic calculation of the self-shielding of heavy isotope resonances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grandotto-Biettoli, Marc.

The formalism is based on separating both types of resonance effects: local energy effects creating a fine structure in the flux, and bulk effects resulting in a slow variation in the flux. Effective reaction rates are defined that, used as tables in a multigroup calculation of cells with a large pitch in regard to resonance widths, allow an exact account of the dependence of the effective integral upon fast variations in the flux. These tables are used to introduce this phenomenon of resonance self-shielding in the multigroup Apollo program for solving the neutron transport equation, they are derived from nuclear data with using some parameters relating to the physical state of the resonant isotope inside the fuel medium. The AUTOSECOL system provides a library of effective reaction rates for taking account of the resonance self-shielding effect on the neutron flux in nuclear reactor cells. Its versatility in regard to the methods previously used for solving the same problem allows a rapid testing of the consequences of considering the self-shielding effect of new isotope resonances, a following up of the evolution in nuclear data evaluation, and rapidly studying the interest lying in new data. Results obtained with AUTOSECOL are compared with those obtained when using the SECOL code for computing the effective reaction rates of 235 U, 239 Pu, 107 Ag, 109 Ag, and 241 Pu [fr

Stable Isotope Analyses of water and Aqueous Solutions by Conventional Dual-inlet Mass Spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Horita, Juske [ORNL; Kendall, C. [U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA

2004-01-01

The foundation of various analytical methods for the stable isotope composition of water and other aqueous samples (natural abundance, {sup 1}H : {sup 2}H (D) = 99.985 : 0.015 atom%, and {sup 16}O : {sup 17}O : {sup 18}O = 99.762 : 0.038 : 0.200 atom%) was established during the Manhatten Project in the U.S.A., when large amounts of heavy water were produced for nuclear reactors (see Kirshenbaum, 1951, for a detailed account). From early on, there was great interest in the oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions of water, because they are the ideal tracers of water sources and reactions. The increased analytical precisions made possible by the subsequent development of modern gas-source isotope-ratio mass spectrometers with dual-inlets and multi-collectors, have caused the proliferation of new analytical methods and applications for the oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions of water. These stable isotopes have found wide applications in basic as well as applied sciences (chemistry, geology, hydrology, biology, medical sciences, and food sciences). This is because water is ubiquitous, is an essential and predominant ingredient of living organisms, and is perhaps the most reactive compound in the Earth.

Recent developments in application of stable isotope analysis on agro-product authenticity and traceability.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yan; Zhang, Bin; Chen, Gang; Chen, Ailiang; Yang, Shuming; Ye, Zhihua

2014-02-15

With the globalisation of agro-product markets and convenient transportation of food across countries and continents, the potential for distribution of mis-labelled products increases accordingly, highlighting the need for measures to identify the origin of food. High quality food with identified geographic origin is a concern not only for consumers, but also for agriculture farmers, retailers and administrative authorities. Currently, stable isotope ratio analysis in combination with other chemical methods gradually becomes a promising approach for agro-product authenticity and traceability. In the last five years, a growing number of research papers have been published on tracing agro-products by stable isotope ratio analysis and techniques combining with other instruments. In these reports, the global variety of stable isotope compositions has been investigated, including light elements such as C, N, H, O and S, and heavy isotopes variation such as Sr and B. Several factors also have been considered, including the latitude, altitude, evaporation and climate conditions. In the present paper, an overview is provided on the authenticity and traceability of the agro-products from both animal and plant sources by stable isotope ratio analysis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applications of stable Isotope ratios determinations in fruit juice authentication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magdas, Dana Alina; Dehelean, Adriana; Voica, Cezara; Puscas, Romulus

2010-01-01

Full text: Adulteration of a product consists in making it impure by fraudulent addition of a foreign or inferior substance. The result is either an alteration of the product and of its quality or a falsification. The falsification is a voluntary act with the intention of abuse. The falsification may be more or less sophisticated and its sophistication as well as its costs increases with the improvement of analytical methods. Vacuum concentration with aroma does not affect the chemical composition of fruit juices and therefore the determination of deuterium (D) and oxygen-18 content in waters is the most confident procedure for differentiating between a natural single strength juice and a juice rediluted from a concentrate. This technique is based on the fact that when absorbed by a plant, the rainwater or the irrigation water is fractionated by evapotranspiration, and enriched in the heavy isotopes (deuterium and oxygen-18) with respect to the light isotope (hydrogen and oxygen-16, respectively). It is known that climatic conditions affect the isotope content of rain waters and therefore that of fruit juices waters: the warmer climate, the higher the deuterium and oxygen-18 contents in water. Rainwater and tap water have nearly the same isotopic content and the water of fruit juices derived from concentrate by dilution with tap water has an isotopic content close to that of tap water. This makes it easy to distinguish diluted concentrates from the isotopically more enriched water of authentic single strength juice. In this study, single strength juice, in Romanian fruits, were investigated by mean of stable isotope measurements (oxygen, hydrogen and carbon) in order to offer a discussion basis for the authenticity of some fruit juices currently available on Romanian market. (authors)

Iron Isotope Fractionation in Microbial and Non-Biological Precipitates, and the Human Body

Science.gov (United States)

von Blanckenburg, F.; Boettcher, M. E.; Hofmann, B.; Walczyk, T.

2001-12-01

We have investigated biotic and abiotic stable iron isotope fractionation pathways in experiments, the low-T natural environment, and the human body. Fe samples were analysed using a Nu Plasma Multicollector ICP-MS. All measured samples plot on the theoretically predicted exponential fractionation line in the Delta57Fe versus Delta56Fe space, demonstrating absence of ArN or ArO interferences. An experimental calibration of Fe isotope fractionation during abiotic formation of iron (III) oxyhydroxide and iron(II) minerals from aqueous solution resulted in significant differences: (a) During fast precipitation of FeOOH during alkalization of a Fe(III)Cl3 solution at room temperature the solid is only slightly enriched by about 0.1permil in 57Fe compared to the solution. (b) Slow precipitation of akaganeite (beta-FeOOH) from aqueous Fe(III)Cl3 solution leads to a depletion of 57Fe by about -2.2permil in the solid phase without a significant influence of temperature. (c) Precipitation of FeOOH during oxidation of aqueous Fe(II) solutions by oxygen yields an enrichment of up to 4.8permil in 57Fe in the solid phase. (d) Iron(II) carbonate precipitation between 20 and 60C leads to an almost negligible depletion in 57Fe compared to aqueous ferrous ions. Interpretation: Large enrichment of the heavy isotope is observed where Fe is oxidised, whereas small to interme-diate depletions of heavy Fe isotopes occur upon forma-tion of Fe-minerals without change in redox state. Addi-tionally, kinetic effects, the speciation of the aqueous solution, or the effect of crystal structures may have to be considered. Biotic isotope fractionation by microorganisms was investigated at two field sites. In a Fe mine (Gonzen, Switzerland), Fe-precipitating microbes (Gallionella ferrugina and Leptohrix ochtraceae) have formed Fe(III)-oxyhydroxides that are ca. 0.6permil heavier in Delta57Fe than the Fe-rich parent solutions. At Cady Mts, California, filamentous fabrics of goethite, thought to

Remarks on the fission barriers of super-heavy nuclei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hofmann, S. [GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany); Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt, Institut fuer Physik, Frankfurt (Germany); Heinz, S.; Mann, R.; Maurer, J.; Muenzenberg, G.; Barth, W.; Dahl, L.; Kindler, B.; Kojouharov, I.; Lang, R.; Lommel, B.; Runke, J.; Scheidenberger, C.; Tinschert, K. [GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt (Germany); Antalic, S. [Comenius University, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Bratislava (Slovakia); Eberhardt, K.; Thoerle-Pospiech, P.; Trautmann, N. [Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Mainz (Germany); Grzywacz, R. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Hamilton, J.H. [Vanderbilt University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Nashville, TN (United States); Henderson, R.A.; Kenneally, J.M.; Moody, K.J.; Shaughnessy, D.A.; Stoyer, M.A. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (United States); Miernik, K. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); University of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland); Miller, D. [University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Morita, K. [RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, Wako, Saitama (Japan); Nishio, K. [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan); Popeko, A.G.; Yeremin, A.V. [Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russian Federation); Roberto, J.B.; Rykaczewski, K.P. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Uusitalo, J. [University of Jyvaeskylae, Department of Physics, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

2016-04-15

Shell-correction energies of super-heavy nuclei are approximated by using Q{sub α} values of measured decay chains. Five decay chains were analyzed, which start at the isotopes {sup 285}Fl, {sup 294}118, {sup 291}Lv, {sup 292}Lv and {sup 293}Lv. The data are compared with predictions of macroscopic-microscopic models. Fission barriers are estimated that can be used to eliminate uncertainties in partial fission half-lives and in calculations of evaporation-residue cross-sections. In that calculations, fission probability of the compound nucleus is a major factor contributing to the total cross-section. The data also provide constraints on the cross-sections of capture and quasi-fission in the entrance channel of the fusion reaction. Arguments are presented that fusion reactions for synthesis of isotopes of elements 118 and 120 may have higher cross-sections than assumed so far. (orig.)

Analysis of hydrogen sulfide releases in heavy water production facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Croitoru, Cornelia; Dumitrescu, Maria; Preda, Irina; Lazar, Roxana

1996-01-01

Safety analyses conducted at ICIS concern primarily the heavy water production installations. The quantitative risk assessment needs the frequency calculation of accident sequences and consequences. In heavy water plants which obtain primary isotopic concentration of water by H 2 O - H 2 S exchange, large amounts of hydrogen sulfide which is a toxic, inflammable and explosive gas, are circulated. The first stage in calculating the consequences consists in potential analysis of H 2 S release. This work presents a study of this types of releases for pilot installations of the heavy water production at ICIS (Plant 'G' at Rm. Valcea). The installations which contain and maneuver large quantities of H 2 S and the mathematical models for different types of releases are presented. The accidents analyzed are: catastrophic column, container, spy-hole failures or gas-duct rupture and wall cracks in the installation. The main results are given as tables while the time variations of the flow rate and quantities of H 2 O released by stack disposal are plotted

Changes in Chemical and Isotopic Composition of Groundwater During a Long Term Pumping Test in Brestovica Karst Aquifer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mezga, K.; Urbanc, J. [Geological Survey of Slovenia, Department of Hydrogeology, Ljubljana (Slovenia)

2013-07-15

A pumping test of the Klarici water supply near Brestovica was performed in August 2008, in order to determine the karst groundwater resource capacity. Groundwater was pumped for a month with a total capacity of 470 L/s. During the experiment, sampling for chemical and isotopic composition of groundwater and surface water was carried out. Intensive pumping in dry meteorological conditions caused a lowering of the water table and changes in the chemical and isotopic composition of pumped water. Local meteoric waters are infiltrated into the aquifer at a lower mean altitude; therefore the {delta}{sup 18}O is enriched with the heavy oxygen isotope. The duration of pumping resulted in changes in the isotopic composition of oxygen due to a greater impact of the intergranular Soca River aquifer on the karst aquifer. On the basis of isotope composition it was possible to quantify the impact of the Soca River on the karst aquifer. (author)

The composition of heavy ions in solar energetic particle events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, C.Y.

1984-01-01

The composition within individual SEP events may vary both with time and energy, and will in general be different from that in other SEP events. Average values of relative abundances measured in a large number of SEP events, however, are found to be roughly energy independent in the proportional1 to proportional20 MeV per nucleon range, and show a systematic deviation from photospheric abundances which seems to be organized in terms of the first ionization potential of the ion. Direct measurements of the charge states of SEPs have revealed the surprisingly common presence of energetic He + along with heavy ions with typically coronal ionization states. High-resolution measurements of isotopic abundance ratios in a small number of SEP events show these to be consistent with the universal composition except for the puzzling overabundance of the SEP 22 Ne/ 20 Ne relative to this isotopes ratio in the solar wind. The broad spectrum of observed elemental abundance variations, which in their extreme result in composition anomalies characteristic of 3 He-rich, heavy-ion rich and carbon-poor SEP events, along with direct measurements of the ionization states of SEPs provide essential information on the physical characteristics of, and conditions in the source regions, as well as important constraints to possible models for SEP production. (orig./HM)

Independent yields of Kr and Xe isotopes in the photofission of heavy nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gangrsky, Yu.P.; Zhemenik, V.I.; Maslova, N.Yu.; Mishinsky, G.V.; Penionzhkevich, Yu.E.; Szoelloes, O.

2003-01-01

The yields of Kr (A = 87-93) and Xe (A = 138-143) primary fission fragments produced in 232 Th, 238 U, and 244 Pu photofission upon the scission of a target nucleus and neutron emission were measured in an experiment with bremsstrahlung from electrons accelerated to 25 MeV by a microtron, and the results of these measurements are presented. The experimental procedure used involved the transportation of fragments that escaped from the target by a gas flow through a capillary and the condensation of Kr and Xe inert gases in a cryostat at liquid-nitrogen temperature. The fragments of all other elements were retained with a filter at the capillary inlet. The isotopes of Kr and Xe were identified by the γ spectra of their daughter products. The mass-number distributions of the independent yields of Kr and Xe isotopes are obtained and compared with similar data on fission induced by thermal and fast neutrons; the shifts of the fragment charges with respect to the undistorted charge distribution are determined. Prospects for using photofission fragments in studying the structure of highly neutron-rich nuclei are discussed

Generalized finite polynomial approximation (WINIMAX) to the reduced partition function of isotopic molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, M.W.; Bigeleisen, J.

1978-01-01

The MINIMAX finite polynomial approximation to an arbitrary function has been generalized to include a weighting function (WINIMAX). It is suggested that an exponential is a reasonable weighting function for the logarithm of the reduced partition function of a harmonic oscillator. Comparison of the error function for finite orthogonal polynomial (FOP), MINIMAX, and WINIMAX expansions of the logarithm of the reduced vibrational partition function show WINIMAX to be the best of the three approximations. A condensed table of WINIMAX coefficients is presented. The FOP, MINIMAX, and WINIMAX approximations are compared with exact calculations of the logarithm of the reduced partition function ratios for isotopic substitution in H 2 O, CH 4 , CH 2 O, C 2 H 4 , and C 2 H 6 at 300 0 K. Both deuterium and heavy atom isotope substitution are studied. Except for a third order expansion involving deuterium substitution, the WINIMAX method is superior to FOP and MINIMAX. At the level of a second order expansion WINIMAX approximations to ln(s/s')f are good to 2.5% and 6.5% for deuterium and heavy atom substitution, respectively

Lead isotopes in tree rings: Chronology of pollution in Bayou Trepagnier, Louisiana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marcantonio, F.; Flowers, G.; Thien, L.; Ellgaard, E.

1998-01-01

The authors have measured the Pb isotopic composition of tree rings from seven trees in both highly contaminated and relatively noncontaminated regions of Bayou Trepagnier, a bayou in southern Louisiana that has had oil refinery effluent discharged into it over the past 70 years. To their knowledge, this is the first time that Pb isotope tree-ring records have been used to assess the sources and extent of heavy-metal contamination of the environment through time. When tree ring 206 Pb/ 208 Pb and 206 Pb/ 207 Pb isotope ratios are plotted against one another, a straight line is defined by four of the most contaminated trees. This linear correlation suggests mixing between two sources of Pb. One of the sources is derived from the highly polluted dredge spoils on the banks of the bayou and the other from the natural environment. The nature of the contaminant Pb is unique in that it is, isotopically, relatively homogeneous and extremely radiogenic, similar to ores of the Mississippi Valley (i.e., 206 Pb/ 207 Pb = 1.28). This singular pollutant isotope signature has enabled them to determine the extent of Pb contamination in each cypress wood sample. The isotope results indicate that Pb uptake by the tree is dominated by local-scale root processes and is, therefore, hydrologically and chemically controlled. In addition, the authors propose that the mobility and bioavailability of Pb in the environment depends on its chemical speciation

Stable isotope tracers and exercise physiology: past, present and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Daniel J; Brook, Matthew S; Smith, Kenneth; Atherton, Philip J

2017-05-01

Stable isotope tracers have been invaluable assets in physiological research for over 80 years. The application of substrate-specific stable isotope tracers has permitted exquisite insight into amino acid, fatty-acid and carbohydrate metabolic regulation (i.e. incorporation, flux, and oxidation, in a tissue-specific and whole-body fashion) in health, disease and response to acute and chronic exercise. Yet, despite many breakthroughs, there are limitations to 'substrate-specific' stable isotope tracers, which limit physiological insight, e.g. the need for intravenous infusions and restriction to short-term studies (hours) in controlled laboratory settings. In recent years significant interest has developed in alternative stable isotope tracer techniques that overcome these limitations, in particular deuterium oxide (D 2 O or heavy water). The unique properties of this tracer mean that through oral administration, the turnover and flux through a number of different substrates (muscle proteins, lipids, glucose, DNA (satellite cells)) can be monitored simultaneously and flexibly (hours/weeks/months) without the need for restrictive experimental control. This makes it uniquely suited for the study of 'real world' human exercise physiology (amongst many other applications). Moreover, using D 2 O permits evaluation of turnover of plasma and muscle proteins (e.g. dynamic proteomics) in addition to metabolomics (e.g. fluxomics) to seek molecular underpinnings, e.g. of exercise adaptation. Here, we provide insight into the role of stable isotope tracers, from substrate-specific to novel D 2 O approaches, in facilitating our understanding of metabolism. Further novel potential applications of stable isotope tracers are also discussed in the context of integration with the snowballing field of 'omic' technologies. © 2016 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology © 2016 The Physiological Society.

Copper isotope fractionation between aqueous compounds relevant to low temperature geochemistry and biology

Science.gov (United States)

Fujii, Toshiyuki; Moynier, Frédéric; Abe, Minori; Nemoto, Keisuke; Albarède, Francis

2013-06-01

Isotope fractionation between the common Cu species present in solution (Cu+, Cu2+, hydroxide, chloride, sulfide, carbonate, oxalate, and ascorbate) has been investigated using both ab initio methods and experimental solvent extraction techniques. In order to establish unambiguously the existence of equilibrium isotope fractionation (as opposed to kinetic isotope fractionation), we first performed laboratory-scale liquid-liquid distribution experiments. Upon exchange between HCl medium and a macrocyclic complex, the 65Cu/63Cu ratio fractionated by -1.06‰ to -0.39‰. The acidity dependence of the fractionation was appropriately explained by ligand exchange reactions between hydrated H2O and Cl- via intramolecular vibrations. The magnitude of the Cu isotope fractionation among important Cu ligands was also estimated by ab initio methods. The magnitude of the nuclear field shift effect to the Cu isotope fractionation represents only ˜3% of the mass-dependent fractionation. The theoretical estimation was expanded to chlorides, hydroxides, sulfides, sulfates, and carbonates under different conditions of pH. Copper isotope fractionation of up to 2‰ is expected for different forms of Cu present in seawater and for different sediments (carbonates, hydroxides, and sulfides). We found that Cu in dissolved carbonates and sulfates is isotopically much heavier (+0.6‰) than free Cu. Isotope fractionation of Cu in hydroxide is minimal. The relevance of these new results to the understanding of metabolic processes was also discussed. Copper is an essential element used by a large number of proteins for electron transfer. Further theoretical estimates of δ65Cu in hydrated Cu(I) and Cu(II) ions, Cu(II) ascorbates, and Cu(II) oxalate predict Cu isotope fractionation during the breakdown of ascorbate into oxalate and account for the isotopically heavy Cu found in animal kidneys.

Comparison of methods for the determination of boron in heavy water moderator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Green, L.W.; Davey, E.C.; Gulens, J.; Longhurst, T.H.; Mislan, J.P.

1984-01-01

Five analysis methods were compared for the determination of boron in heavy water moderator: isotope dilution mass spectrometry, spectrophotometry, neutron activation, inductively coupled plasma -atomic emission spectrometry, and ion selective electrode potentiometry. Ten samples were analysed by each method; the results showed close agreement between all of the methods. Only mass spectrometry achieved the required precision ( 10 B concentration must be determined, only mass spectrometry and neutron activation are applicable

Analysis of hydrogen-deuterium mixtures and of mixtures of heavy-water and light-water by means of a mass spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chenouard, J.; Gueron, J.; Roth, E.

1951-07-01

The differences between hydrogen and deuterium with respect to the capture of thermal neutrons (hydrogen = 0.31 barn; deuterium 0.00065 barn) explains the interest of detecting small variations of the isotopic composition of the heavy waters used in the Chatillon nuclear pile. The aim of this report is to describe and discuss the method used since more than a year for the dosimetry of heavy waters. After a recall of the principle of mass spectroscopy analysis of deuterium-hydrogen mixtures, the preciseness of the results is presented and the balancing method used for the determination of the isotopic composition of hydrogen-deuterium mixtures is explained in detail. Finally, a brief comparison of the preciseness of mass spectroscopy measurements with the analyses made with other methods is performed. Some calculations and the tables of results are presented in appendixes. (J.S.)

SOFIA: An innovative setup to measure complete isotopic yield of fission fragments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pellereau E.

2013-12-01

Full Text Available We performed an experiment dedicated to the accurate isotopic yield measurement of fission fragments over the whole range. SOFIA exploits the inverse kinematics technique: using heavy ion beams at relativistic energies, fission is induced by Coulomb excitation in a high-Z target. The fragments are emitted forward and both of them are identified in charge and mass. The setup will be presented, as well as preliminary spectra.

Separation efficiency of the MASHA facility for short-lived mercury isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Rodin, A. M.; Belozerov, A. V.; Chernysheva, E. V.; Dmitriev, S. N.; Gulyaev, A. V.; Gulyaeva, A. V.; Itkis, M. G.; Kliman, J.; Kondratiev, N. A.; Krupa, L.; Novoselov, A. S.; Oganessian, Yu. Ts.; Podshibyakin, A. V.; Salamatin, V. S.; Siváček, I.; Stepantsov, S. V.; Vanin, D. V.; Vedeneev, V. Yu.; Yukhimchuk, S. A.; Granja, C.; Pospisil, S.

2014-06-01

The mass-separator MASHA built to identify Super Heavy Elements by their mass-to-charge ratios is described. The results of the off- and on-line measurements of its separation efficiency are presented. In the former case four calibrated leaks of noble gases were used. In the latter the efficiency was measured via 284 MeV Ar beam and with using the hot catcher. The ECR ion source was used in both cases. The -radioactive isotopes of mercury produced in the complete fusion reaction Ar+SmHg+xn were detected at the mass-separator focal plane. The half-lives and the separation efficiency for the short-lived mercury isotopes were measured. Potentialities of the MEDIPIX detector system have been demonstrated for future use at the mass-separator MASHA.

Nuclear data needs for subcritical reactors with heavy-metal coolant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ignatyuk, A.V.

2001-01-01

Requests on improvement of evaluated data files for minor actinides (MA) are briefly reviewed. New evaluations of neutron cross sections for Np-237, Am-241 and Am-243 after the corresponding tests and verifications should satisfy the required accuracies of data for developing MA-burners. More difficult problems arise for curium isotopes, evaluated data of which are strongly divergent. International expertise of available evaluations could be very desirable. Needs in data improvements for perspective heavy-metal liquid coolants are outlined. (author)

Research on aerodynamic means of isotope enrichment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cattolica, R.J.; Gallagher, R.J.; Talbot, L.; Willis, D.R.; Hurlbut, F.C.; Fiszdon, W.; Anderson, J.B.

1978-03-01

The results of a research program directed toward the understanding of the fundamental gas dynamics involved in aerodynamic isotope enrichment are summarized. The specific aerodynamic isotope enrichment method which was examined in this research is based on a velocity slip phenomenon which occurs in the rarefied hypersonic expansion of a heavy molecular weight gas and a light carrier gas in a nozzle or free jet. This particular aerodynamic method was chosen for study because it contains the fundamental molecular physics of other more complex techniques within the context of a one-dimensional flow without boundary effects. From both an experimental and theoretical modeling perspective this provides an excellent basis for testing the experimental and numerical tools with which to investigate more complex aerodynamic isotope enrichment processes. This report consists of three separate parts. Part I contains a theoretical analysis of the velocity slip effect in free jet expansions of binary and ternary gas mixtures. The analysis, based on a source flow model and using moment equations is derived from the Boltzmann equation using the hypersonic approximation. Part II contains the experimental measurements of velocity slip. The numerical simulation of the slip process was carried out by using a Monte-Carlo numerical technique. In addition, comparisons between the theoretical analysis of Part I and the experiments are presented. Part III describes impact pressure measurements of free jet expansions from slot shaped two dimensional nozzles. At least two methods of aerodynamic isotope enrichment (opposed jet and velocity slip) would depend on the use of this type of two dimensional expansion. Flow surveys of single free jet and the interferene of crossed free jets are presented

Isotopic hydrological studies carried out on the Karst water system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Longinelli, A.

1988-03-01

The isotopic composition and temperature of many karst springs in the area of Trieste (Italy) have been measured for about three and a half years. During the same period the isotopic composition of precipitation has also been systematically studied. The isotopic composition of springs generally shows variations which are markedly shifted in time with respect to those of precipitation. In most of the springs the heavy isotope contents of winter samples are the highest of the whole year. On the contrary, summer samples normally show quite negative δ-values, the most negative of which often refer to the last summer months. The data obtained are explained in terms of variable mixing of waters from two main reservoirs. The less negative reservoir (in terms of δ) is recharged by ''local'' meteoric waters falling on the westernmost section of the karst area whose mean elevation is about 400 m a.s.l. The most negative reservoir is probably recharged by meteoric waters falling on the Slovenian section of the karst, whose mean elevation is about 800-900 m a.s.l. At least in the case of some of the northernmost karst springs, it is likely that a third water system, basically fed by the Isonzo river, flowing north of the karst area, could interfere with the previously mentioned reservoirs, partially controlling the outflow of some springs. 6 figs

Preliminary definition of the design of a nuclear reactor for research and radioisotope production using natural uranium and heavy water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Llagostera Beltran, J.I.

1982-01-01

A study was conducted about the evolution of the Brazilian importations of radioisotopes, from the beginning of the 70's since they have been increasingly used in the Country. In view of the limited production capacity of radioactive isotopes now existing in Brazil, a nuclear reactor type (natural uranium and heavy water) was defined, for research and production of radioisotopes, wich, besides providing, at least partially, the Brazilian needs of said isotopes, permits a large national participation in its project, construction and operating maintenance. The processes for heavy water production have been analyzed and it could be detected what is the best alternative for the production thereof, in low scale, in Brazil. The options concerning the definition of the main components of the reactor were justified and its most important features were determined, in relation to the neutronic and thermal aspects, being so defined its most significant parameters. The annual quantities were estimated, in terms of total and specific activity, for the radioisotopes that could be obtained by means of the proposed reactor, which, by now, are participating, to a large extent, in the total of Brazilian importation of radioactive isotopes. (Author) [pt

Hypoxia induces copper stable isotope fractionation in hepatocellular carcinoma, in a HIF-independent manner.

Science.gov (United States)

Bondanese, Victor P; Lamboux, Aline; Simon, Melanie; Lafont, Jérôme E; Albalat, Emmanuelle; Pichat, Sylvain; Vanacker, Jean-Marc; Telouk, Philippe; Balter, Vincent; Oger, Philippe; Albarède, Francis

2016-11-09

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent type of primary liver cancer, with increasing incidence worldwide. The unrestrained proliferation of tumour cells leads to tumour hypoxia which in turn promotes cancer aggressiveness. While changes in the concentration of copper (Cu) have long been observed upon cancerization, we have recently reported that the isotopic composition of copper is also altered in several types of cancer. In particular, we showed that in hepatocellular carcinoma, tumour tissue contains heavier copper compared to the surrounding parenchyma. However, the reasons behind such isotopic signature remained elusive. Here we show that hypoxia causes heavy copper enrichment in several human cell lines. We also demonstrate that this effect of hypoxia is pH, HIF-1 and -2 independent. Our data identify a previously unrecognized cellular process associated with hypoxia, and suggests that in vivo tumour hypoxia determines copper isotope fractionation in HCC and other solid cancers.

A PC-based system for simulation of processes in the isotopic exchange column of a cryogenic pilot plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Retevoi, Carmen Maria; Stefan, Liviu; Baltateanu, Ovidiu; Stefan, Iuliana

2001-01-01

The technology developed at the Institute of Cryogenics and Isotope Separations is based on catalytic isotope exchange between water and hydrogen gas both carrying various isotopes of hydrogen: normal hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium. This isotope exchange is followed by cryogenic distillation to separate the various isotopes of hydrogen gas. The detritiation process was simulated using water as working fluid, with a small content of deuterium and a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and deuterium. Isotopic separation of hydrogen is very important for nuclear plants utilizing the CANDU reactor concept. Tritiated water is extracted from the moderator of the reactor and the tritium is removed in order to reduce the radiation levels from the reactor. One of the most important steps in this process is the catalytic isotope exchange between tritiated water and hydrogen gas. In the 'Catalytic isotope exchange' system, tritium transfer occurs from the liquid phase (tritiated heavy water) into the gaseous phase (hydrogen) in an isotope exchange column. The column is packed with alternating layers of two types of catalysts: an ordered B7 type of phosphorous bronze to catalyze the equilibration between liquid and gaseous water and a PT/C/PTFE catalyst to catalyze the reaction between water vapor and hydrogen gas. The corresponding reactions are (DTO) L + (D 2 O) V ↔ (D 2 O) L + (DTO) V and (DTO) V + (D 2 ) G ↔ (D 2 O) V + (DT)G. The design of the process requires a constant catalytic exchange temperature that must be maintained at a value of 90 deg.C. To achieve this, the plant is equipped with electrical heat exchangers for heating the gas (hydrogen) and the heavy water. The control is achieved using an array of sensors and controllers. The sensors used for monitoring the process are type J thermocouples. The temperature control is achieved by controlling the electrical power fed to the heaters. Besides sensing the fluid temperatures at various points, we also monitor the

Tracing contamination sources in soils with Cu and Zn isotopic ratios

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fekiacova, Z.; Cornu, S. [INRA, UR 1119 Géochimie des Sols et des Eaux, F-13100 Aix en Provence (France); Pichat, S. [Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon (LGL-TPE), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5276, 69007 Lyon (France)

2015-06-01

Copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are naturally present and ubiquitous in soils and are important micronutrients. Human activities contribute to the input of these metals to soils in different chemical forms, which can sometimes reach a toxic level for soil organisms and plants. Isotopic signatures could be used to trace sources of anthropogenic Cu and Zn pollution. The aim of this paper is to determine whether it is possible to identify (i) Cu and Zn contamination in soils and their sources, on the basis of their isotopic signatures, and (ii) situations that are a priori favorable or not for tracing Cu and Zn pollution using the isotopic approach. Therefore, we compiled data from the literature on Cu and Zn isotopes in soils, rocks and pollutants and added to this database the results of our own research. As only a few studies have dealt with agricultural contamination, we also studied a soil toposequence from Brittany, France, that experienced spreading of pig slurry for tens of years. In the surface horizons of the natural soils, the δ{sup 65}Cu values vary from − 0.15 to 0.44‰ and the δ{sup 66}Zn from − 0.03 to 0.43‰. Furthermore, vertical variations along soil profiles range from − 0.95 to 0.44‰ for δ{sup 65}Cu and from − 0.53 to 0.64‰ for δ{sup 66}Zn values. We concluded that pedogenetic processes can produce isotopic fractionation, yet, it is not always discernible and can be overprinted by an exogenous isotopic signature. Furthermore, some contaminants are enriched in heavy Cu or in light Zn compared to the rock or soil, but no generalization can be made. The anthropogenic inputs can be identified based on stable Cu and Zn isotope ratios if the isotope ratios of the sources are different from those of the soil, which needs to be tested for each individual case. - Highlights: • Pedogenetic processes produce some Cu and Zn isotope fractionation. • Pollution with distinct isotopic signatures can be traced using Cu and Zn isotopes. • Tracing

Tracing contamination sources in soils with Cu and Zn isotopic ratios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fekiacova, Z.; Cornu, S.; Pichat, S.

2015-01-01

Copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are naturally present and ubiquitous in soils and are important micronutrients. Human activities contribute to the input of these metals to soils in different chemical forms, which can sometimes reach a toxic level for soil organisms and plants. Isotopic signatures could be used to trace sources of anthropogenic Cu and Zn pollution. The aim of this paper is to determine whether it is possible to identify (i) Cu and Zn contamination in soils and their sources, on the basis of their isotopic signatures, and (ii) situations that are a priori favorable or not for tracing Cu and Zn pollution using the isotopic approach. Therefore, we compiled data from the literature on Cu and Zn isotopes in soils, rocks and pollutants and added to this database the results of our own research. As only a few studies have dealt with agricultural contamination, we also studied a soil toposequence from Brittany, France, that experienced spreading of pig slurry for tens of years. In the surface horizons of the natural soils, the δ 65 Cu values vary from − 0.15 to 0.44‰ and the δ 66 Zn from − 0.03 to 0.43‰. Furthermore, vertical variations along soil profiles range from − 0.95 to 0.44‰ for δ 65 Cu and from − 0.53 to 0.64‰ for δ 66 Zn values. We concluded that pedogenetic processes can produce isotopic fractionation, yet, it is not always discernible and can be overprinted by an exogenous isotopic signature. Furthermore, some contaminants are enriched in heavy Cu or in light Zn compared to the rock or soil, but no generalization can be made. The anthropogenic inputs can be identified based on stable Cu and Zn isotope ratios if the isotope ratios of the sources are different from those of the soil, which needs to be tested for each individual case. - Highlights: • Pedogenetic processes produce some Cu and Zn isotope fractionation. • Pollution with distinct isotopic signatures can be traced using Cu and Zn isotopes. • Tracing of the metal

Modeling Equilibrium Fe Isotope Fractionation in Fe-Organic Complexes: Implications for the use of Fe Isotopes as a Biomarker and Trends Based on the Properties of Bound Ligands

Science.gov (United States)

Domagal-Goldman, S.; Kubicki, J. D.

2006-05-01

Fe Isotopes have been proposed as a useful tracer of biological and geochemical processes. Key to understanding the effects these various processes have on Fe isotopes is accurate modeling of the reactions responsible for the isotope fractionations. In this study, we examined the theoretical basis for the claims that Fe isotopes can be used as a biomarker. This was done by using molecular orbital/density functional theory (MO/DFT) calculations to predict the equilibrium fractionation of Fe isotopes due to changes in the redox state and the bonding environment of Fe. Specifically, we predicted vibrational frequencies for iron desferrioxamine (Fe-DFOB), iron triscatechol (Fe(cat)3), iron trisoxalate (Fe(ox)3), and hexaaquo iron (Fe(H2O)6) for complexes containing both ferrous (Fe2+) and ferric (Fe3+) iron. Using these vibrational frequencies, we then predicted fractionation factors between these six complexes. The predicted fractionation factors resulting from changes in the redox state of Fe fell in the range 2.5- 3.5‰. The fractionation factors resulting from changes in the bonding environment of Fe ranged from 0.2 to 1.4‰. These results indicate that changes in the bonding strength of Fe ligands are less important to Fe isotope fractionation processes than are changes to the redox state of Fe. The implications for use of Fe as a tracer of biological processes is clear: abiological redox changes must be ruled out in a sample before Fe isotopes are considered as a potential biomarker. Furthermore, the use of Fe isotopes to measure the redox state of the Earths surface environment through time is supported by this work, since changes in the redox state of Fe appear to be the more important driver of isotopic fractionations. In addition to the large differences between redox-driven fractionations and ligand-driven fractionations, we will also show general trends in the demand for heavy Fe isotopes as a function of properties of the bound ligand. This will help the

Hydrogen isotope separation in hydrophobic catalysts between hydrogen and liquid water

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ye, Linsen, E-mail: yls2005@mail.ustc.edu.cn [China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900 (China); Luo, Deli [Science and Technology on Surface Physics and Chemistry Laboratory, Jiangyou 621907 (China); Tang, Tao; Yang, Wan; Yang, Yong [China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900 (China)

2015-11-15

Hydrogen isotope catalytic exchange between hydrogen and liquid water is a very effective process for deuterium-depleted potable water production and heavy water detritiation. To improve the characteristics of hydrophobic catalysts for this type of reaction, foamed and cellular structures of hydrophobic carbon-supported platinum catalysts were successfully prepared. Separation of deuterium or tritium from liquid water was carried out by liquid-phase catalytic exchange. At a gas–liquid ratio of 1.53 and exchange temperature of 70 °C, the theoretical plate height of the hydrophobic catalyst (HETP = 34.2 cm) was slightly lower than previously reported values. Changing the concentration of the exchange column outlet water yielded nonlinear changes in the height of the packing layer. Configurations of deuterium-depleted potable water and detritiation of heavy water provide references for practical applications.

Three centuries of heavy metal pollution in Paris (France) recorded by urban speleothems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pons-Branchu, Edwige, E-mail: epons@lsce.ipsl.fr [LSCE (UMR8212, CEA/CNRS/UVSQ), Bâtiment 12, avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-Sur-Yvette (France); Ayrault, Sophie; Roy-Barman, Matthieu; Bordier, Louise [LSCE (UMR8212, CEA/CNRS/UVSQ), Bâtiment 12, avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-Sur-Yvette (France); Borst, Wolfgang; Branchu, Philippe [CEREMA, 12 rue Teisserenc de Bort, 78190 Trappes (France); Douville, Eric [LSCE (UMR8212, CEA/CNRS/UVSQ), Bâtiment 12, avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif-Sur-Yvette (France); Dumont, Emmanuel [CEREMA, rue de l' égalité Prolongée, 93352, Le Bourget cedex 319 (France)

2015-06-15

The first record of urban speleothems used to reconstruct the history of heavy metal pollution of shallow groundwaters is presented. Two speleothems grew during the last 300 years in an underground aqueduct in the north-eastern part of Paris. They display high Pb, Mn V, Cu, Cd and Al concentrations since 1900 due to the urbanization of the site which triggered anthropogenic contamination of the water feeding the speleothems. Surprisingly, these heavy metal concentrations are also high in the oldest part. This early pollution could come from the use of Parisian waste as fertilizers in the orchards and vineyards cultivated above the aqueduct before urbanization. Lead isotopes were measured in these carbonates as well as in lead artifacts from the 17th–18th centuries ({sup 206}Pb/{sup 207}Pb = 1.180 +/− 0.003). The mean {sup 206}Pb/{sup 207}Pb ratio, for one of the speleothems is 1.181 +/− 0.003 unvarying with time. These lead signatures are close to those of coal and old lead from northern European mines, lower than the natural background signature. It confirms that the high metal concentrations found come from anthropogenic pollution. Conversely, the lead isotopic composition of the second speleothem presents two temporal trends: for the oldest levels, the mean value (1.183 +/− 0.003) is similar to the first speleothem. For the youngest part, a lower value (1.172 +/− 0.005) is recorded, evidencing the contribution of a new lead source at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Pb isotopes were also measured in recent samples from a nearby superficial site. The first sample is a recent (AD 1975 +/− 15 years) deposit ({sup 206}Pb/{sup 207}Pb = 1.148 +/− 0.003), and the second, a thin subactual layer ({sup 206}Pb/{sup 207}Pb = 1.181 +/− 0.002). These data are compatible with the adding of anthropogenic sources (leaded gasoline and industrial lead from Rio Tinto ore). - Highlights: • Urban speleothems from underground aqueduct in Paris, France were

Three centuries of heavy metal pollution in Paris (France) recorded by urban speleothems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pons-Branchu, Edwige; Ayrault, Sophie; Roy-Barman, Matthieu; Bordier, Louise; Borst, Wolfgang; Branchu, Philippe; Douville, Eric; Dumont, Emmanuel

2015-01-01

The first record of urban speleothems used to reconstruct the history of heavy metal pollution of shallow groundwaters is presented. Two speleothems grew during the last 300 years in an underground aqueduct in the north-eastern part of Paris. They display high Pb, Mn V, Cu, Cd and Al concentrations since 1900 due to the urbanization of the site which triggered anthropogenic contamination of the water feeding the speleothems. Surprisingly, these heavy metal concentrations are also high in the oldest part. This early pollution could come from the use of Parisian waste as fertilizers in the orchards and vineyards cultivated above the aqueduct before urbanization. Lead isotopes were measured in these carbonates as well as in lead artifacts from the 17th–18th centuries ( 206 Pb/ 207 Pb = 1.180 +/− 0.003). The mean 206 Pb/ 207 Pb ratio, for one of the speleothems is 1.181 +/− 0.003 unvarying with time. These lead signatures are close to those of coal and old lead from northern European mines, lower than the natural background signature. It confirms that the high metal concentrations found come from anthropogenic pollution. Conversely, the lead isotopic composition of the second speleothem presents two temporal trends: for the oldest levels, the mean value (1.183 +/− 0.003) is similar to the first speleothem. For the youngest part, a lower value (1.172 +/− 0.005) is recorded, evidencing the contribution of a new lead source at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Pb isotopes were also measured in recent samples from a nearby superficial site. The first sample is a recent (AD 1975 +/− 15 years) deposit ( 206 Pb/ 207 Pb = 1.148 +/− 0.003), and the second, a thin subactual layer ( 206 Pb/ 207 Pb = 1.181 +/− 0.002). These data are compatible with the adding of anthropogenic sources (leaded gasoline and industrial lead from Rio Tinto ore). - Highlights: • Urban speleothems from underground aqueduct in Paris, France were studied. • Speleothems are

Isotopic anomalies and the early history of the solar system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Begemann, F.

1981-01-01

Three elements are discussed in some detail. Inclusions from carbonaceous chondrites contain quite normal minerals where the oxygen is enriched by up to 5% in 16 O. The oxygen is neither in isotopic equilibrium with that of the bulk meteorites nor are the different minerals of a single inclusion isotopically homogenized. The xenon in acid-insoluble residues from carbonaceous chondrites contains at least two distinct anomalous components. One consists essentially of the middle-weight isotopes only; the abundance pattern is as expected for Xe produced in the s-process of nucleosynthesis. The second type is to some extent complementary to this s-xenon; it is characterized by an overabundance of the light and the heavy isotopes by up to 100%. Its origin is controversial. Direct production in a supernova has been suggested as well as a superposition of strongly mass-fractionated xenon, favouring the light isotopes, and fission xenon from the decay of (a) superheavy element (s), which in turn would presumably have to be produced in a supernova as well. Neon being more than 99% pure 22 Ne is most convincingly accounted for by in situ-decay of 2.6a 22 Na which implies a condensation of Na-bearing host phases within 10 years or so of the production of 22 Na. It is not clear at present whether this condensation took place in the expanding envelope of an exploding star or within the solar system, with the onset of the collapse of the pre-solar nebula being triggered by such an explosion. (orig./WL)

Application of radioanalytical techniques in the study of the products of heavy-ion reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoffman, D.C.

1989-01-01

The use of heavy ions to induce nuclear reactions was reported as early as 1950. Since then it has been one of the most active areas of nuclear research. Intense beams of ions as heavy as uranium with energies high enough to overcome the Coulomb barriers of even the heaviest elements are available. The large variety of possible reactions gives rise to a multitude of products, which have been studied by many chemical and physical techniques. Chemical techniques have been of special value for the separation and unequivocal identification of low-yield species from the plethora of other nuclides present. Heavy-ion reactions have been essential for the production of the transmendelevium elements and a host of new isotopes. The systematics of compound nucleus reactions, transfer reactions and deeply inelastic reactions have been elucidated using chemical techniques. The variety of chemical procedures and techniques which have been developed for the study of heavy-ion reactions and their products has been examined. The determination of the chemical properties of the transmendelevium elements, which are very short-lived and can only be produced an ''atom at a time'' via heavy-ion reactions, is discussed. (author)

Pb-Zn-Cd-Hg multi isotopic characterization of the Loire River Basin, France

Science.gov (United States)

Millot, R.; Widory, D.; Innocent, C.; Guerrot, C.; Bourrain, X.; Johnson, T. M.

2012-12-01

The contribution of human activities such as industries, agriculture and domestic inputs, becomes more and more significant in the chemical composition (major ions and pollutants such as metals) of the dissolved load of rivers. Furthermore, this influence can also be evidenced in the suspended solid matter known to play an important role in the transport of heavy metals through river systems. Human factors act as a supplementary key process. Therefore the mass-balance for the budget of catchments and river basins include anthropogenic disturbances. The Loire River in central France is approximately 1010 km long and drains an area of 117,800 km2. Initially, the Loire upstream flows in a south to north direction originating in the Massif Central, and continues up to the city of Orléans, 650 km from the source. In the upper basin, the bedrock is old plutonic rock overlain by much younger volcanic rocks. The Loire River then follows a general east to west direction to the Atlantic Ocean. The intermediate basin includes three major tributaries flowing into the Loire River from the left bank: the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne rivers; the main stream flows westward and its valley stretches toward the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the Loire River drains the sedimentary series of the Paris Basin, mainly carbonate deposits. The lower Loire basin drains pre-Mesozoic basement of the Armorican Massif and its overlying Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary deposits. The Loire River is one of the main European riverine inputs to the Atlantic ocean. Here we are reporting concentration and isotope data for heavy metals Zn-Cd-Pb-Hg in river waters and suspended sediments from the Loire River Basin. In addition, we also report concentration and isotope data for these metals for the different industrial sources within the Loire Basin, as well as data for biota samples such as mussels and oysters from the Bay of Biscay and North Brittany. These organisms are known to be natural accumulators of

Calcium and titanium isotopes in refractory inclusions from CM, CO, and CR chondrites

Science.gov (United States)

Kööp, Levke; Davis, Andrew M.; Krot, Alexander N.; Nagashima, Kazuhide; Simon, Steven B.

2018-05-01

Previous studies have shown that CV and CM chondrites incorporated Ca, Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) with different isotopic characteristics, which may represent different snapshots in the isotopic evolution of the early Solar System. To better understand how the isotopic characteristics of CAIs vary between different chondrite groups, we have studied calcium and titanium isotopes in CAIs from CM, CO, and CR chondrites. We show that all three chondrite groups contain CAIs with large anomalies in 48Ca and/or 50Ti (10s of ‰ or 100s of ε-units) as well as CAIs with no anomalies resolved beyond measurement uncertainties. Isotopically, the anomalous CO and CR chondrite CAIs resemble the platy hibonite crystals (PLACs) from CM chondrites, but they are more mineralogically complex. The new data are consistent with the well-established mutual exclusivity relationship between incorporation of 26Al and the presence of large anomalies in 48Ca and 50Ti. The two highly anomalous CO chondrite CAIs have correlated anomalies in 46Ti and 50Ti, while most other highly anomalous CAIs do not. This result could indicate that the reservoir with coupled 46Ti and 50Ti that was sampled by bulk meteorites and CV chondrite CAIs already existed before arrival and/or homogeneous distribution of 26Al in the protoplanetary disk. Among the studied CM chondrite CAIs are ten spinel-hibonite inclusions (SHIBs) with known oxygen isotopic compositions. Our results show that these objects sampled a reservoir that was well-mixed in oxygen, calcium, and titanium isotopes. We further show that SHIBs tend to be slightly enriched in the heavy calcium isotopes, suggesting that their formation history was different from CV chondrite CAIs.

Calorimetric low temperature detectors for heavy ion physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Egelhof, P.; Kraft-Bermuth, S. [Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung mbH, Darmstadt (Germany)]|[Mainz Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik

2005-05-01

Calorimetric low temperature detectors have the potential to become powerful tools for applications in many fields of heavy ion physics. A brief overview of heavy ion physics at present and at the next generation heavy ion facilities is given with a special emphasis on the conditions for heavy ion detection and the potential advantage of cryogenic detectors for applications in heavy ion physics. Two types of calorimetric low temperature detectors for the detection of energetic heavy ions have been developed and their response to the impact of heavy ions was investigated systematically for a wide range of energies (E=0.1-360 MeV/amu) and ion species ({sup 4}He.. {sup 238}U). Excellent results with respect to energy resolution, {delta}E/E ranging from 1 to 5 x 10{sup -3} even for the heaviest ions, and other basic detector properties such as energy linearity with no indication of a pulse height defect, energy threshold, detection efficiency and radiation hardness have been obtained, representing a considerable improvement as compared to conventional heavy ion detectors based on ionization. With the achieved performance, calorimetric low temperature detectors bear a large potential for applications in various fields of basic and applied heavy ion research. A brief overview of a few prominent examples, such as high resolution nuclear spectroscopy, high resolution nuclear mass determination, which may be favourably used for identification of superheavy elements or in direct reaction experiments with radioactive beams, as well as background discrimination in accelerator mass spectrometry, is given, and first results are presented. For instance, the use of cryogenic detectors allowed to improve the sensitivity in trace analysis of {sup 236}U by one order of magnitude and to determine the up to date smallest isotope ratio of {sup 236}U/{sup 238}U = 6.1 x 10{sup -12} in a sample of natural uranium. Besides the detection of heavy ions, the concept of cryogenic detectors also

Calorimetric low temperature detectors for heavy ion physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Egelhof, P.; Kraft-Bermuth, S.; Mainz Univ.

2005-07-01

Calorimetric low temperature detectors have the potential to become powerful tools for applications in many fields of heavy ion physics. A brief overview of heavy ion physics at present and at the next generation heavy ion facilities is given with a special emphasis on the conditions for heavy ion detection and the potential advantage of cryogenic detectors for applications in heavy ion physics. Two types of calorimetric low temperature detectors for the detection of energetic heavy ions have been developed and their response to the impact of heavy ions was investigated systematically for a wide range of energies (E=0.1-360 MeV/amu) and ion species ( 4 He.. 238 U). Excellent results with respect to energy resolution, ΔE/E ranging from 1 to 5 x 10 -3 even for the heaviest ions, and other basic detector properties such as energy linearity with no indication of a pulse height defect, energy threshold, detection efficiency and radiation hardness have been obtained, representing a considerable improvement as compared to conventional heavy ion detectors based on ionization. With the achieved performance, calorimetric low temperature detectors bear a large potential for applications in various fields of basic and applied heavy ion research. A brief overview of a few prominent examples, such as high resolution nuclear spectroscopy, high resolution nuclear mass determination, which may be favourably used for identification of superheavy elements or in direct reaction experiments with radioactive beams, as well as background discrimination in accelerator mass spectrometry, is given, and first results are presented. For instance, the use of cryogenic detectors allowed to improve the sensitivity in trace analysis of 236 U by one order of magnitude and to determine the up to date smallest isotope ratio of 236 U/ 238 U = 6.1 x 10 -12 in a sample of natural uranium. Besides the detection of heavy ions, the concept of cryogenic detectors also provides considerable advantage for X

Application of Environmental Isotopes in Hydrological Studies Along the River Nile Valley, Egypt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nada, A. A. [Site and Environmental Dept. NCNSRC, Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo (Egypt)

2013-07-15

This paper reviews some of the contributions of isotope techniques to better understanding hydrological problems in Egypt and the Nile basin. The stable isotope composition of precipitation shows considerable variations both in time and space since it is controlled by climatic factors. Surface waters became enriched in deuterium and oxygen-18 relative to their initial isotopic composition as losses by evaporation occur. The GNIP sampling stations at Entebbe and Addis Ababa, which are located at the source of the Nile River, present relatively depleted isotopic contents. Assuming that the central Africa runoff (White Nile downstream from Sudan) represents 30% of the natural discharge of Egypt, and the remaining 70% is derived from Ethiopia (Blue Nile), we obtain a composite depleted stable isotope composition of the river Nile reaching upper Egypt under natural conditions (before the construction of the Aswan High Dam). Stable isotopes were used to estimate the evaporation rate from Lake Nasser, based on the isotopic content of the lake water. The lake can be divided into two sectors: the first sector, with remarkable vertical gradient in O-18 and deuterium, and a second sector, characterized by a lower vertical isotopic gradient. In order to detect this effect, surface Nile water samples have been collected at Cairo after a heavy storm event covering all Egypt at the beginning of November 1994, characterized by very negative deuterium and oxygen-18 contents. The isotopic content of Nile water samples fluctuated and slightly changed with time. The variation of the bomb tritium response of the Nile has been reconstructed using a model based on the contents in the catchment areas of the Nile. Pre-bomb tritium content in the Nile was about 5 TU, reaching a maximum level during the early sixties of about 500 TU. At present the tritium level content of the Nile is about 6 TU. (author)

An integrated approach to assess heavy metal source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ying; Li, Tingqiang; Wu, Chengxian; He, Zhenli; Japenga, Jan; Deng, Meihua; Yang, Xiaoe

2015-12-15

Three techniques (Isotope Ratio Analysis, GIS mapping, and Multivariate Statistical Analysis) were integrated to assess heavy metal pollution and source apportionment in peri-urban agricultural soils. The soils in the study area were moderately polluted with cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), lightly polluted with lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr). GIS Mapping suggested Cd pollution originates from point sources, whereas Hg, Pb, Cr could be traced back to both point and non-point sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) were mainly inherited from natural sources, while Hg, Pb, and Cd were associated with two different kinds of anthropogenic sources. Cluster analysis (CA) further identified fertilizers, waste water, industrial solid wastes, road dust, and atmospheric deposition as potential sources. Based on isotope ratio analysis (IRA) organic fertilizers and road dusts accounted for 74-100% and 0-24% of the total Hg input, while road dusts and solid wastes contributed for 0-80% and 19-100% of the Pb input. This study provides a reliable approach for heavy metal source apportionment in this particular peri-urban area, with a clear potential for future application in other regions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of intertexture detection method on trace of heavy metals by using the tissue print binding assay method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Umemiya, Yoshiaki; Hiraoka, Kiyoshi; Nakamura, Yuri; Murakami, Yuriko; Kusaba, Shinnosuke; Honta, Chikako

1999-01-01

A method to identify and quantify rapidly metal jointed protein in living body texture by using a radioactive isotope (tissue print biding assay: TPBA) was developed to detect the protein induced by excess heavy metals. By this method, locality, presence states and time-elapsing change of heavy metals in each texture of soils and tree bodies were elucidated to make factor analysis possible on dynamics of the heavy metals in fruit garden. Iron among the heavy metals, form deficiency disease by increased pH of soil to generate typical chlorosis to leaves. In this case, as iron content in leaves reduced but chlorosis was generated, ti was found that iron related closely to metabolic process between roots and leaves. In this study, a peach tree grown at a garden was sampled to clarify soil around roots, and locality and absorptive transfer of iron in root portion and texture and to obtain some basic data for elucidation of metabolic physiological reaction of heavy metal jointed protein. (G.K.)

Heavy water production by the method of ammonia rectification with heat pump. Experience of starting of industrial installation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rozen, A.M.

1995-01-01

Basic results of the start-up in 1955 of a facility for heavy water production by ammonia refining are presented to substantiate its economic profitability. The description of the facility is given, data on the materials corrosion resistance, efficiency of the operation of the trays and pumps are provided. It is shown that the mentioned method of heavy water production in terms of economic indices is similar to highly efficient methods, namely: refining of liquid hydrogen and water-hydrogen sulfide two-temperature isotopic exchange. 14 refs., 14 figs., 2 tabs

Isotopic evidence for enhanced fossil fuel sources of aerosol ammonium in the urban atmosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Yuepeng; Tian, Shili; Liu, Dongwei; Fang, Yunting; Zhu, Xiaying; Gao, Meng; Gao, Jian; Michalski, Greg; Wang, Yuesi

2018-04-20

The sources of aerosol ammonium (NH 4 + ) are of interest because of the potential of NH 4 + to impact the Earth's radiative balance, as well as human health and biological diversity. Isotopic source apportionment of aerosol NH 4 + is challenging in the urban atmosphere, which has excess ammonia (NH 3 ) and where nitrogen isotopic fractionation commonly occurs. Based on year-round isotopic measurements in urban Beijing, we show the source dependence of the isotopic abundance of aerosol NH 4 + , with isotopically light (-33.8‰) and heavy (0 to +12.0‰) NH 4 + associated with strong northerly winds and sustained southerly winds, respectively. On an annual basis, 37-52% of the initial NH 3 concentrations in urban Beijing arises from fossil fuel emissions, which are episodically enhanced by air mass stagnation preceding the passage of cold fronts. These results provide strong evidence for the contribution of non-agricultural sources to NH 3 in urban regions and suggest that priority should be given to controlling these emissions for haze regulation. This study presents a carefully executed application of existing stable nitrogen isotope measurement and mass-balance techniques to a very important problem: understanding source contributions to atmospheric NH 3 in Beijing. This question is crucial to informing environmental policy on reducing particulate matter concentrations, which are some of the highest in the world. However, the isotopic source attribution results presented here still involve a number of uncertain assumptions and they are limited by the incomplete set of chemical and isotopic measurements of gas NH 3 and aerosol NH 4 + . Further field work and lab experiments are required to adequately characterize endmember isotopic signatures and the subsequent isotopic fractionation process under different air pollution and meteorological conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radiochemical search for neutron-rich isotopes of element 107

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaedel, M.

1987-01-01

Recent mass calculations have indicated that there is a region of deformed nuclei around neutron number N=162 that is especially stable against spontaneous fission. Barrier heights of about 5 MeV for Z = 107 nuclides can be extrapolated. To search for new, neutron-rich isotopes of element 107 in radiochemical experiments with 254 Es as a target an on-line chemical separation of element 107 (EKA-Rhenium), especially from the actinide elements is needed. An on-line gas-phase chemistry was developed with the homolog Re based on the volatility of the oxide which is transported in an O 2 containing atmosphere along a temperature gradient in a quartz tube and is condensed onto a thin Ta coated Ni-foil. The authors applied this technique in two series of experiments with their rotating wheel on-line gas-phase chemistry apparatus at the 88-inch cyclotron where they irradiated 254 Es as a target with 93 MeV and 96 MeV 16 O ions to search for 266 107. The assignment of the observed alpha events between 8 and 9 MeV to possibly (1) non actinide contaminants like 212 Po, (2) known isotopes of heavy elements like 261 105, or (3) a new isotope will be discussed

Heavy-heavy and heavy-light quarks interactions generated by QCD vacuum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Musakhanov Mirzayusuf

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The QCD vacuum is populated by instantons that correspond to the tunneling processes in the vacuum. This mechanism creates the strong vacuum gluon fields. As result, the QCD vacuum instantons induce very strong interactions between light quarks, initially almost massless. Such a strong interactions bring a large dynamical mass M of the light quarks and bound them to produce almost massless pions in accordance with the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry (SBCS. On the other hand, the QCD vacuum instantons also interact with heavy quarks and responsible for the generation of the heavy-heavy and heavy-light quarks interactions, with a traces of the SBCS. If we take the average instanton size ρ¯=0.33$\\bar \\rho = 0.33$ fm, and the average inter-instanton distance R¯=1$\\bar R = 1$ fm we obtain the dynamical light quark mass to be M = 365 MeV and the instanton media contribution to the heavy quark mass ΔM=70 MeV. These factors define the coupling between heavy-light and heavy-heavy quarks induced by the QCD vacuum instantons. We consider first the instanton effects on the heavy-heavy quarks potential, including its spin-dependent part. We also discuss those effects on the masses of the charmonia and their hyperfine mass splittings. At the second part we discuss the interaction between a heavy and light quarks generated by instantons and it’s effects.

Chemical and isotopic compositions of water and dissolved sulfate from shallow wells on Vulcano Island, Aeolian Archipelago, Italy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cortecci, G.; Dinelli, E.; Boschetti, T. [University of Bologna (Italy). Dept. of Earth and Geological Environmental Sciences; Bolognesi, L. [International Institute for Geothermal Research, Pisa (Italy); Ferrara, G. [University of Pisa (Italy). Dept. of Earth Sciences

2001-02-01

Twenty-two cold and thermal waters from shallow wells sampled in June 1995 in the Vulcano Porto area, Vulcano Island, were analyzed for major and minor chemical constituents, oxygen and hydrogen isotopes and tritium contents, and sulfur isotopes in the dissolved sulfate. The sulfur isotopic composition of the dissolved sulfate ranges between + 0.6 and + 6.5 per mille (mean + 3.7{+-}1.7 per mille), and is interpreted as deriving mainly from fumarolic SO{sub 2} undergoing oxidation in deep and shallow aquifers, with possible minor contributions from oxidation of H{sub 2}S. Dissolution of secondary anhydrite may have been a minor source of the isotopically heavy aqueous sulfate in the cold groundwaters. The chemical and isotopic features of the waters support previous interpretative hydrologic models of Vulcano Porto, which comprise a number of aquifers fed basically by two major end-members, i.e. meteoric water and crater-type fumarolic inputs, the latter in the form of absorbed emissions or condensate. These data, along with the sulfur isotopes of aqueous sulfate, exclude involvement of seawater in the recharge of the groundwater system of the island. (author)

Ca, Sr and Ba stable isotopes reveal the fate of soil nutrients along a tropical climosequence

Science.gov (United States)

Bullen, Thomas D.; Chadwick, Oliver A.

2016-01-01

Nutrient biolifting is an important pedogenic process in which plant roots obtain inorganic nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) from minerals at depth and concentrate those nutrients at the surface. Here we use soil chemistry and stable isotopes of the alkaline earth elements Ca, strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba) to test the hypothesis that biolifting of P has been an important pedogenic process across a soil climosequence developed on volcanic deposits at Kohala Mountain, Hawaii. The geochemical linkage between these elements is revealed as generally positive site-specific relationships in soil mass gains and losses, particularly for P, Ba and Ca, using the ratio of immobile elements titanium and niobium (Ti/Nb) to link individual soil samples to a restricted compositional range of the chemically and isotopically diverse volcanic parent materials. At sites where P is enriched in surface soils relative to abundances in deeper soils, the isotope compositions of exchangeable Ca, Sr and Ba in the shallowest soil horizons ( 10 cm depth) at those sites is consistently heavier than the volcanic parent materials. The isotope compositions of exchangeable Ca and Sr trend toward heavier compositions with depth more gradually, reflecting increasing leakiness from these soils in the order Ba < Sr < Ca and downward transfer of light biocycled Ca and Sr to deeper exchange sites. Given the long-term stability of ecosystem properties at the sites where P is enriched in surface soils, a simple box model demonstrates that persistence of isotopically light exchangeable Ca, Sr and Ba in the shallowest soil horizons requires that the uptake flux to plants from those near-surface layers is less than the recycling flux returned to the surface as litterfall. This observation implicates an uptake flux from an additional source which we attribute to biolifting. We view the heavy exchangeable Ba relative to soil parent values in deeper soils at sites where P is enriched in

Precipitation, flood- and groundwaters of the Negev highlands. An isotopic study of desert hydrology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levin, M.; Issar, A.

1980-01-01

Precipitation in the Negev highlands was found to be surprisingly depleted of 18 O and deuterium and generally characterized by ''deuterium excess'' values of d>15per mille. Isotopic compositions are relatively uniform over a wide area on any particular day, but differ appreciably from storm to storm. Thus, they are valuable tools for hydrographic analysis of flood-flows. Flood-flow samples, collected in Nahal-Zin and Nahal-Besor, were often even more depleted in heavy isotopes than the total rainstorm, indicating that run-off is generated selectively by high-intensity rains. The initial rush of the flood flushed away the surface salinity and saline accumulations in surface pools, but apparently does not involve sub-surface salinity to any great extent. Recharge to groundwater appears to be accompanied by a slight evaporative enrichment of the isotopes, more so in the case of waters recharged from flood-flows. Environmental tritium can be used as an indicator of direct flood-water contributions to the aquifers. (author)

Tracing contamination sources in soils with Cu and Zn isotopic ratios.

Science.gov (United States)

Fekiacova, Z; Cornu, S; Pichat, S

2015-06-01

Copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are naturally present and ubiquitous in soils and are important micronutrients. Human activities contribute to the input of these metals to soils in different chemical forms, which can sometimes reach a toxic level for soil organisms and plants. Isotopic signatures could be used to trace sources of anthropogenic Cu and Zn pollution. The aim of this paper is to determine whether it is possible to identify (i) Cu and Zn contamination in soils and their sources, on the basis of their isotopic signatures, and (ii) situations that are a priori favorable or not for tracing Cu and Zn pollution using the isotopic approach. Therefore, we compiled data from the literature on Cu and Zn isotopes in soils, rocks and pollutants and added to this database the results of our own research. As only a few studies have dealt with agricultural contamination, we also studied a soil toposequence from Brittany, France, that experienced spreading of pig slurry for tens of years. In the surface horizons of the natural soils, the δ(65)Cu values vary from -0.15 to 0.44‰ and the δ(66)Zn from -0.03 to 0.43‰. Furthermore, vertical variations along soil profiles range from -0.95 to 0.44‰ for δ(65)Cu and from -0.53 to 0.64‰ for δ(66)Zn values. We concluded that pedogenetic processes can produce isotopic fractionation, yet, it is not always discernible and can be overprinted by an exogenous isotopic signature. Furthermore, some contaminants are enriched in heavy Cu or in light Zn compared to the rock or soil, but no generalization can be made. The anthropogenic inputs can be identified based on stable Cu and Zn isotope ratios if the isotope ratios of the sources are different from those of the soil, which needs to be tested for each individual case. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Production techniques for rare earth and other heavy negative ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McK Hyder, H.R.; Ashenfelter, J.; McGrath, R.

1998-01-01

Current nuclear structure studies demand a wide range of heavy negative ion beams for tandem acceleration. Some of the wanted isotopes have low natural abundances and many have low or negative electron affinities. For these, gas injection or the use of hydrides, oxides, or fluorides is required to achieve usable intensities. The chemical properties of the target materials, and of the additive gases used to form molecular ions, often have detrimental effects on ion source performance and life. These effects include insulator breakdown, ionizer poisoning, and the erosion or deposition of material on critical electrodes. Methods of controlling sputter source conditions are being studied on the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory ion source test bench with the object of extending source life, increasing target efficiency, and achieving consistent negative ion outputs. Results are reported for several heavy ions including tellurium, neodymium, and ytterbium. copyright 1998 American Institute of Physics

Determination of the tritium content in the reactor heavy water; Odredjivanje porasta kolicine tritijuma u reaktorskoj teskoj vodi

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ribnikar, S [Institute of Nuclear Sciences Boris Kidric, Vinca, Beograd (Serbia and Montenegro)

1963-01-15

Quantity of tritium was measured in the heavy water, in the heavy water vapour and radiolyzed deuterium from the helium cover gas of the RA reactor. It has been shown that isotopic equilibrium D{sub 2}O+DT{r_reversible}DTO+D{sub 2} exists and that it is catalyzed by irradiation. Small quantities of ammonium in the reactor cover gas are inhibiting the migration of tritium from the heavy water. Izmerena ja sadrzina tritijuma u tecnoj teskoj vodi, njenoj pari i radiolizovanom deuterijumu iz helijumske atmosfere reaktora RA. Pokazano je da postoji izotopska ravnoteza D{sub 2}O+DT{r_reversible}DTO+D{sub 2}, koja je katalizovana zracenjem. Male kolicine amonijaka reaktorske atmosfere deluju u smislu otezavanja migracije tritijuma iz teske vode (author)

Dynamic modelling of Industrial Heavy Water Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teruel, F.E.

1997-01-01

The dynamic behavior of the isotopic enrichment unites of the Industrial Heavy Water Plant, located in Arroyito, Neuquen, Argentina, was modeled and simulated in the present work. Dynamic models of the chemical and isotopic interchange processes existent in the plant, were developed. This served as a base to obtain representative models of the different unit and control systems. The developed models were represented in a modular code for each unit. Each simulator consists of approximately one hundred non-linear-first-order differential equations and some other algebraic equation, which are time resolved by the code. The different simulators allow to change a big number of boundary conditions and the control systems set point for each simulation, so that the program become very versatile. The output of the code allows to see the evolution through time of the variables of interest. An interface which facilitates the use of the first enrichment stage simulator was developed. This interface allows an easy access to generate wished events during the simulation and includes the possibility to plot evolution of the variables involved. The obtained results agree with the expected tendencies. The calculated nominal steady state matches by the manufacturer. The different steady states obtained, agree with previous works. The times and tendencies involved in the transients generated by the program, are in good agreement with the experience obtained at the plant. Based in the obtained results, it is concluded that the characteristic times of the plant are determined by the masses involved in the process. Different characteristics in the system dynamic behavior were generated with the different simulators, and were validated by plant personnel. This work allowed to understand the different process involved in the heavy water manufacture, and to develop a very useful tool for the personnel of the plant. (author). 14 refs., figs., tabs. plant. (author). 14 refs., figs., tabs

Application of the isotopic index in isotope geochemical investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuetze, H.

1982-06-01

A method is described which allows to calculate approximately isotope exchange equilibria between different crystalline silicates. The algorithm uses a newly introduced isotopic index. It is defined using isotopic increments of the variant types of silicatic bonds. This isotopic index gives a quantitative measure of the ability to enrich 18 O or 30 Si, respectively. The dependence of isotopic fractionations on temperature can be calculated approximately by means of the isotopic index, too. On this theoretical base some problems of magmatism and two varieties of an isotope geochemical model of the evolution of the Earth's crust are treated. Finally, the possibility is demonstrated to give prognostic statements about the likelihood of ore bearing of different granites. (author)

Heavy quark effective theory and heavy baryon transitions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hussain, F.

1992-01-01

The heavy quark effective theory (HQET) is applied to study the weak decay of heavy mesons and heavy baryons and to predict the form factors for heavy to heavy and heavy to light transitions. 28 refs, 10 figs, 2 tabs

Chromium isotope fractionation during oxidative weathering of the Antrim Basalts: An insight into the global Cr geochemical cycle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

D'Arcy, Joan Mary; Døssing, Lasse Nørbye; Frei, Robert

in this area has focused on laterites, a unique soil type produced by intense tropical weathering. To evaluate if this phenomenon is unique to tropical regions we have measured the Cr isotope composition (d53/52Cr ‰) of soils and river water from the Antrim Plateau, Northern Ireland, a marine temperate climate....... Cr is enriched in the soil horizon relative to basaltic bedrock. Cr isotope fractionation is minimal with d53/52Cr values (-0.27 + 0.02 ‰ to -0.15 + 0.03‰) near to bedrock values (-0.25 + 0.04 ‰) indicating a lack of oxidative weathering. However, local river waters are enriched in isotopically heavy...... Cr as immobile Cr (III). The Cr (VI) lost from the system is insufficient to effect the isotopic composition of the soils. This study together with Cr data from other basaltic river catchments has found that the d53/52Cr of river water is catchment specific [1] and is controlled by local soil forming...

The isotopic contamination in electromagnetic isotope separators; La contagion isotopique dans les separateurs electromagnetiques d'isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cassignol, Ch [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1959-07-01

In the early years of isotope separation, and in particular electromagnetic isotope separation, needs for rapid results have conducted to empiric research. This paper describes fundamental research on the electromagnetic isotope separation to a better understanding of isotope separators as well as improving the performances. Focus has been made on the study of the principle of isotope contamination and the remedial action on the separator to improve the isotope separation ratio. In a first part, the author come back to the functioning of an electromagnetic separator and generalities on isotope contamination. Secondly, it describes the two stages separation method with two dispersive apparatus, an electromagnetic separation stage followed by an electrostatic separation stage, both separated by a diaphragm. The specifications of the electrostatic stage are given and its different settings and their consequences on isotope separation are investigated. In a third part, mechanisms and contamination factors in the isotope separation are discussed: natural isotope contamination, contamination by rebounding on the collector, contamination because of a low resolution, contamination by chromatism and diffusion effect, breakdown of condenser voltage. Analysis of experimental results shows the diffusion as the most important contamination factor in electromagnetic isotope separation. As contamination factors are dependent on geometric parameters, sector angle, radius of curvature in the magnetic field and clearance height are discussed in a fourth part. The better understanding of the mechanism of the different contamination factors and the study of influential parameters as pressure and geometric parameters lead to define a global scheme of isotope contamination and determinate optima separator design and experimental parameters. Finally, the global scheme of isotope contamination and hypothesis on optima specifications and experimental parameters has been checked during a

Metal/glass composites for analysis of hydrogen isotopes by gas-chromatography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicolae, Constantin Adrian; Sisu, Claudia; Stefanescu, Doina; Stanciu, Vasile

1999-01-01

The separation process of hydrogen isotopes by cryogenic distillation or thermal diffusion is a key technology for tritium separation from heavy water in CANDU reactor and for tritium fuel cycle in thermonuclear fusion reactor. In each process, analytical techniques for analyzing the hydrogen isotope mixture are required. An extensive experimental research has been carried out in order to produce the most suitable adsorbents and to establish the best operating conditions for selective separation and analysis of hydrogen isotopes by gas-chromatography. This paper describes the preparation of adsorbent materials used as stationary phases in the gas-chromatographic column for hydrogen isotope separation and the treatment (activation) of stationary phases. Modified thermoresisting glass with Fe(NH 4 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 2 ·6H 2 O and Cr 2 O 3 respectively have been experimentally investigated at 77 K for H 2 , HD and D 2 separation and the results of chromatographic runs are reported and discussed. The gas-chromatographic apparatus used in this study is composed of a Hewlett-Packard 7620A gas-chromatograph equipped with a gas carrier flow rate controller and a thermal conductivity detector. The apparatus comprises also a Dewar vessel containing the separation column. The hydrogen isotopes, H 2 , HD, D 2 , and their mixture have been obtained in our laboratories. The best operating conditions and parameters of the Fe 3+ /glass adsorbent column , i.e. granulometry, column length, pressure-drop along the column, carrier gas flow rate and sample volume have been studied by means of the analysis of the retention times, separation factors and HETP. (authors)

The use of isotopic correlation technique for determination of sup(241)Am and sup(243)Am concentration in nuclear irradiated fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souza Sarkis, J.E. de.

1990-01-01

In the last years the isotopic correlation technique is emerging as a powerful tool for the determination of concentration and isotopic composition of heavy nuclides in the nuclear fuel cycle. Accordingly, this technique has gained significant importance for the safeguard of the nuclear materials as well as for the accounting and build up of actinides elements in the irradiated nuclear fuels. In this work 42 isotopic correlations between the nuclides sup(241)Am and sup(243)Am and post irradiation isotopic data of 7 samples from fuel element BE-124 and 1 sample from fuel element BE-120 from the Obrigheim pressurized water nuclear power reactor, Federal Republic of Germany, were proposed. These isotopic correlations allowed to estimate the isotopic concentrations of sup(241)Am and sup(243)Am with an average deviation, relative to the experimental data obtained from isotopic dilution mass spectrometry technique, of 10%. These results are more precise than those found using the computer code ORIGEN 2 demonstrating the great potential of this technique for the determination of isotopic concentration and build up of those nuclides in irradiated nuclear fuels. The analytical and other experimental aspects of the post irradiation isotopic analysis of nuclear fuels are also discussed. (author)

Multi-nucleon transfer reaions with heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nadkarni, D.M.

1975-01-01

The reaction mechanisms of multinucleon transfer reactions with heavy ions such as O 16 , Ne 22 , Ar 40 , Ge 74 , Kr 84 and Xe 136 are discussed. As an example, the transfer reactions of Th 232 bombarded with O 16 , Ne 22 and Ar 40 ions are described. Some general features and a semiclassical picture of these reactions are presented. Cross sections, energy spectra and angular distributions are derived for the products of these reactions. The energy dependence of nucleon transfer cross sections in the interaction of Ge 74 with Th 232 is discussed. The importance of the study of multinucleon transfer reactions in the production of neutron-rich isotopes and transuranium elements is pointed out. (A.K.)

Isotopically modified compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuruc, J.

2009-01-01

In this chapter the nomenclature of isotopically modified compounds in Slovak language is described. This chapter consists of following parts: (1) Isotopically substituted compounds; (2) Specifically isotopically labelled compounds; (3) Selectively isotopically labelled compounds; (4) Non-selectively isotopically labelled compounds; (5) Isotopically deficient compounds.

A Zn isotope perspective on the rise of continents.

Science.gov (United States)

Pons, M-L; Fujii, T; Rosing, M; Quitté, G; Télouk, P; Albarède, F

2013-05-01

Zinc isotope abundances are fairly constant in igneous rocks and shales and are left unfractionated by hydrothermal processes at pH 1‰ during the ~2.35 Ga Great Oxygenation Event. By 1.8 Ga, BIF δ(66) Zn has settled to the modern value of FeMn nodules and encrustations (~0.9‰). The Zn cycle is largely controlled by two different mechanisms: Zn makes strong complexes with phosphates, and phosphates in turn are strongly adsorbed by Fe hydroxides. We therefore review the evidence that the surface geochemical cycles of Zn and P are closely related. The Zn isotope record echoes Sr isotope evidence, suggesting that erosion starts with the very large continental masses appearing at ~2.7 Ga. The lack of Zn fractionation in pre-2.9 Ga BIFs is argued to reflect the paucity of permanent subaerial continental exposure and consequently the insignificant phosphate input to the oceans and the small output of biochemical sediments. We link the early decline of δ(66) Zn between 3.0 and 2.7 Ga with the low solubility of phosphate in alkaline groundwater. The development of photosynthetic activity at the surface of the newly exposed continents increased the oxygen level in the atmosphere, which in turn triggered acid drainage and stepped up P dissolution and liberation of heavy Zn into the runoff. Zinc isotopes provide a new perspective on the rise of continents, the volume of carbonates on continents, changing weathering conditions, and compositions of the ocean through time. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Penning trap mass measurements on nobelium isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dworschak, M.; Block, M.; Ackermann, D.; Herfurth, F.; Hessberger, F. P.; Hofmann, S.; Vorobyev, G. K.; Audi, G.; Blaum, K.; Droese, C.; Marx, G.; Schweikhard, L.; Eliseev, S.; Ketter, J.; Fleckenstein, T.; Haettner, E.; Plass, W. R.; Scheidenberger, C.; Ketelaer, J.; Kluge, H.-J.

2010-01-01

The Penning trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP at GSI Darmstadt allows accurate mass measurements of radionuclides, produced in fusion-evaporation reactions and separated by the velocity filter SHIP from the primary beam. Recently, the masses of the three nobelium isotopes 252-254 No were determined. These are the first direct mass measurements of transuranium elements, which provide new anchor points in this region. The heavy nuclides were produced in cold-fusion reactions by irradiating a PbS target with a 48 Ca beam, resulting in production rates of the nuclei of interest of about one atom per second. In combination with data from decay spectroscopy our results are used to perform a new atomic-mass evaluation in this region.

Measurement and evaluation of nuclear data for fissile and fertile isotopes: An important task of present-day physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van'kov, A.A.

1986-01-01

This paper considers questions relating to the analysis of neutron cross-section measurements and measurements of transmission functions for heavy isotopes in the unresolved resonance region. It also considers questions connected with the evaluation of group constants. Conclusions are drawn regarding the need to set up new experiments for measuring transmission functions. (author)

Isotope effect and isotope separation. A chemist's view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, Takanobu

2002-01-01

What causes the isotope effects (IE)? This presentation will be centered around the equilibrium isotope effects due to the differences in the nuclear masses. The occurrence of the equilibrium constant, K, of isotope exchange reactions which differ from the values predicted by the classical theory of statistical mechanics, K cl , is explored. The non-classical K corresponds to the unit-stage separation factor, α, that is different from unity and forms a basis of an isotope separation process involving the chemical exchange reaction. Here, the word 'chemical exchange' includes not only the isotope exchange chemical reactions between two or more chemical species but also the isotope exchanges involving the equilibria between liquid and vapor phases and liquid-gas, liquid solution-gas, liquid-liquid, and solid-liquid phases. In Section I, origins of the isotope effect phenomena will be explored and, in the process, various quantities used in discussions of isotope effect that have often caused confusions will be unambiguously defined. This Section will also correlate equilibrium constant with separation factor. In Section II, various forms of temperature-dependence of IE and separation factor will be discussed. (author)

Sea surface salinity of the Eocene Arctic Azolla event using innovative isotope modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Speelman, E. N.; Sewall, J. O.; Noone, D.; Huber, M.; Sinninghe Damste, J. S.; Reichart, G. J.

2009-04-01

the surface waters can be deduced from the isotopic composition of the diols, we can calculate the degree of mixing between freshwater (isotopically light) and seawater (isotopically heavy) in the surface waters. This way we quantify Eocene Arctic surface water salinity, which in turn will shed light on the degree of (seasonal) mixing and stratification.

Accelerator mass spectrometry of 59Ni and Fe isotopes at the Argonne superconducting linac

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henning, W.; Kutschera, W.; Myslek-Laurikainen, B.; Pardo, R.C.; Smither, R.K.; Yntema, J.L.

1981-01-01

We have obtained initial results in an attempt to use the Argonne tandem-linac system for accelerator mass spectrometry of medium-heavy nuclei. Nuclei of the radioisotope 59 Ni (T/sub 1/2 = 7.5 x 10 5 y) and of the stable isotope 58 Fe at low concentrations have been accelerated and clearly identified. The latter experiment is in preparation of a measurement of the half-life of 60 Fe

The importance of heavy water in nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gharib, A.G.

2004-01-01

Due to similarities of chemical and almost physical properties in H 2 O and D 2 O but differences in nuclear and particle peculiarities provide valuable application for D 2 O. To sustain a controlled chain reaction, the energy of neutrons produced by fission must be reduced through collisions with other nuclei, a process called moderation. A good moderator has a mass close to that of the neutron to maximize energy loss per collision and a very small neutron capture cross section to minimize unwanted nuclear reactions. Deuterium is far the best moderator, more than 80 times better than hydrogen and 30 times better than 12 C ir 18 O. Heavy water is almost as good as deuterium and has the distinct advantage of being a nonflammable liquid. Heavy water is also an excellent neutron reflector, and thus decreases the number of neutrons that escape the reactor core without participating in fission reactions. For this reason a feasibility study and subsequently a technical survey was carried out on engineering of a pilot scale plant. As the result of this studies, the know-how of heavy water production on basis of selected method including dual temperature isotopic exchange and distillation techniques developed. Subsequently the primary and almost detail engineering documents prepared on best knowledge of our own engineers without external contribution

Behaviour of heavy water in nuclear reactors of the CEA; Comportement de l'eau lourde dans les piles du C.E.A

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chenouard, J; Dirian, G; Roth, E [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1955-07-01

In the two heavy water reactors of the CEA: Zoe and P-2, we do: A) the supervision of the isotopic composition of the heavy water; B) the supervision of gases released by the decomposition of the heavy water under radiation, and to their recombination; C) periodic analyses of impurities. (M.B.) [French] Dans les deux piles a eau lourde du Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique: Zoe et P 2, nous effectuons: A) la surveillance de la composition isotopique de l'eau lourde; B) la surveillance des gaz degages par la decomposition de l'eau lourde sous radiation, et a leur recombinaison; C) des analyses periodiques d'impuretes. (M.B.)

Effects of environmental regulations on heavy metal pollution decline in core sediments from Manila Bay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosono, Takahiro; Su, Chih-Chieh; Siringan, Fernando; Amano, Atsuko; Onodera, Shin-ichi

2010-01-01

We investigated the high-resolution heavy metal pollution history of Manila Bay using heavy metal concentrations and Pb isotope ratios together with 210 Pb dating to find out the effects of environmental regulations after the 1990s. Our results suggested that the rate of decline in heavy metal pollution increased dramatically from the end of the 1990s due to stricter environmental regulations, Administrative Order No. 42, being enforced by the Philippines government. The presented data and methodology should form the basis for future monitoring, leading to pollution control, and to the generation of preventive measures at the pollution source for the maintenance of environmental quality in the coastal metropolitan city of Manila. Although this is the first report of a reduction in pollution in Asian developing country, our results suggest that we can expect to find similar signs of pollution decline in other parts of the world as well.

Prototyping of beam position monitor for medium energy beam transport section of RAON heavy ion accelerator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jang, Hyojae, E-mail: lkcom@ibs.re.kr; Jin, Hyunchang; Jang, Ji-Ho; Hong, In-Seok [Rare Isotope Science Project, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-02-15

A heavy ion accelerator, RAON is going to be built by Rare Isotope Science Project in Korea. Its target is to accelerate various stable ions such as uranium, proton, and xenon from electron cyclotron resonance ion source and some rare isotopes from isotope separation on-line. The beam shaping, charge selection, and modulation should be applied to the ions from these ion sources because RAON adopts a superconducting linear accelerator structure for beam acceleration. For such treatment, low energy beam transport, radio frequency quadrupole, and medium energy beam transport (MEBT) will be installed in injector part of RAON accelerator. Recently, development of a prototype of stripline beam position monitor (BPM) to measure the position of ion beams in MEBT section is under way. In this presentation, design of stripline, electromagnetic (EM) simulation results, and RF measurement test results obtained from the prototyped BPM will be described.

TRI mu P - a radioactive isotope trapping facility under construction at KVI

CERN Document Server

Berg, G P; Dermois, O; Harakeh, M N; Hoekstra, R; Jungmann, Klaus; Kopecky, S; Morgenstern, R; Rogachevskiy, A; Timmermans, R; Willmann, L; Wilschut, H W

2003-01-01

At the Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut a new facility (TRI mu P) is under development which aims to investigate fundamental interactions using radioactive ions. A spectrum of radioactive isotopes will be produced in inverse-kinematics and fragmentation reactions using heavy-ion beams from the superconducting cyclotron AGOR. The reaction products will be separated from the primary beam in a dual-mode recoil and fragment separator. The beam of isotopes of interest will be transformed into a low-energy, high-quality, bunched beam and, after neutralization, stored in an atom trap. The emphasis will be put on studying the origin of parity violation via beta-nu angular correlations and the search for permanent electric dipole moments of atoms and nuclei. The facility will be open to outside users; suggestions for collaborations to extend the scientific program are encouraged.

Biomimetic trapping cocktail to screen reactive metabolites: use of an amino acid and DNA motif mixture as light/heavy isotope pairs differing in mass shift.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosaka, Shuto; Honda, Takuto; Lee, Seon Hwa; Oe, Tomoyuki

2018-06-01

Candidate drugs that can be metabolically transformed into reactive electrophilic products, such as epoxides, quinones, and nitroso compounds, are of special concern because subsequent covalent binding to bio-macromolecules can cause adverse drug reactions, such as allergic reactions, hepatotoxicity, and genotoxicity. Several strategies have been reported for screening reactive metabolites, such as a covalent binding assay with radioisotope-labeled drugs and a trapping method followed by LC-MS/MS analyses. Of these, a trapping method using glutathione is the most common, especially at the early stage of drug development. However, the cysteine of glutathione is not the only nucleophilic site in vivo; lysine, histidine, arginine, and DNA bases are also nucleophilic. Indeed, the glutathione trapping method tends to overlook several types of reactive metabolites, such as aldehydes, acylglucuronides, and nitroso compounds. Here, we introduce an alternate way for screening reactive metabolites as follows: A mixture of the light and heavy isotopes of simplified amino acid motifs and a DNA motif is used as a biomimetic trapping cocktail. This mixture consists of [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 3 ]-1-methylguanidine (arginine motif, Δ 3 Da), [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 4 ]-2-mercaptoethanol (cysteine motif, Δ 4 Da), [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 5 ]-4-methylimidazole (histidine motif, Δ 5 Da), [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 9 ]-n-butylamine (lysine motif, Δ 9 Da), and [ 13 C 0 , 15 N 0 ]/[ 13 C 1 , 15 N 2 ]-2'-deoxyguanosine (DNA motif, Δ 3 Da). Mass tag triggered data-dependent acquisition is used to find the characteristic doublet peaks, followed by specific identification of the light isotope peak using MS/MS. Forty-two model drugs were examined using an in vitro microsome experiment to validate the strategy. Graphical abstract Biomimetic trapping cocktail to screen reactive metabolites.

Source of arsenic-bearing pyrite in southwestern Vermont, USA: Sulfur isotope evidence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mango, Helen, E-mail: helen.mango@castleton.edu [Department of Natural Sciences, Castleton State College, 233 South Street, Castleton, VT 05735 (United States); Ryan, Peter, E-mail: pryan@middlebury.edu [Department of Geology, Middlebury College, 276 Bicentennial Way, Middlebury, VT 05753 (United States)

2015-02-01

Arsenic-bearing pyrite is the source of arsenic in groundwater produced in late Cambrian and Ordovician gray and black slates and phyllites in the Taconic region of southwestern Vermont, USA. The aim of this study is to analyze the sulfur isotopic composition of this pyrite and determine if a relationship exists between pyrite δ{sup 34}S and arsenic content. Pyrite occurs in both sedimentary/diagenetic (bedding-parallel layers and framboids) and low-grade metamorphic (porphyroblast) forms, and contains up to > 2000 ppm As. The sulfur isotopic composition of arsenic-bearing pyrite ranges from − 5.2‰ to 63‰. In the marine environment, the sulfur in sedimentary pyrite becomes increasingly enriched in {sup 34}S as the geochemical environment becomes increasingly anoxic. There is a positive correlation between δ{sup 34}S and arsenic content in the Taconic pyrite, suggesting that uptake of arsenic by pyrite increased as the environment became more reducing. This increased anoxia may have been due to a rise in sea level and/or tectonic activity during the late Cambrian and Ordovician. Low-grade metamorphism appears to have little effect on sulfur isotope composition, but does correlate with lower arsenic content in pyrite. New groundwater wells drilled in this region should therefore avoid gray and black slates and phyllites that contain sedimentary/diagenetic pyrite with heavy δ{sup 34}S values. - Highlights: • Pyrite is the source of arsenic in groundwater in the Taconic region of Vermont, USA. • As-bearing pyrite δ{sup 34}S = – 5.2 to 63‰ with higher {sup 34}S as environment becomes more anoxic. • High sea level, tectonic activity create anoxia, with incorporation of As into pyrite. • New wells should avoid slate/phyllite containing sedimentary pyrite with heavy δ{sup 34}S.

Source of arsenic-bearing pyrite in southwestern Vermont, USA: Sulfur isotope evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mango, Helen; Ryan, Peter

2015-01-01

Arsenic-bearing pyrite is the source of arsenic in groundwater produced in late Cambrian and Ordovician gray and black slates and phyllites in the Taconic region of southwestern Vermont, USA. The aim of this study is to analyze the sulfur isotopic composition of this pyrite and determine if a relationship exists between pyrite δ 34 S and arsenic content. Pyrite occurs in both sedimentary/diagenetic (bedding-parallel layers and framboids) and low-grade metamorphic (porphyroblast) forms, and contains up to > 2000 ppm As. The sulfur isotopic composition of arsenic-bearing pyrite ranges from − 5.2‰ to 63‰. In the marine environment, the sulfur in sedimentary pyrite becomes increasingly enriched in 34 S as the geochemical environment becomes increasingly anoxic. There is a positive correlation between δ 34 S and arsenic content in the Taconic pyrite, suggesting that uptake of arsenic by pyrite increased as the environment became more reducing. This increased anoxia may have been due to a rise in sea level and/or tectonic activity during the late Cambrian and Ordovician. Low-grade metamorphism appears to have little effect on sulfur isotope composition, but does correlate with lower arsenic content in pyrite. New groundwater wells drilled in this region should therefore avoid gray and black slates and phyllites that contain sedimentary/diagenetic pyrite with heavy δ 34 S values. - Highlights: • Pyrite is the source of arsenic in groundwater in the Taconic region of Vermont, USA. • As-bearing pyrite δ 34 S = – 5.2 to 63‰ with higher 34 S as environment becomes more anoxic. • High sea level, tectonic activity create anoxia, with incorporation of As into pyrite. • New wells should avoid slate/phyllite containing sedimentary pyrite with heavy δ 34 S

Isotopic source signatures: Impact of regional variability on the δ13CH4 trend and spatial distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Feinberg, Aryeh I.; Coulon, Ancelin; Stenke, Andrea; Schwietzke, Stefan; Peter, Thomas

2018-02-01

The atmospheric methane growth rate has fluctuated over the past three decades, signifying variations in methane sources and sinks. Methane isotopic ratios (δ13CH4) differ between emission categories, and can therefore be used to distinguish which methane sources have changed. However, isotopic modelling studies have mainly focused on uncertainties in methane emissions rather than uncertainties in isotopic source signatures. We simulated atmospheric δ13CH4 for the period 1990-2010 using the global chemistry-climate model SOCOL. Empirically-derived regional variability in the isotopic signatures was introduced in a suite of sensitivity simulations. These simulations were compared to a baseline simulation with commonly used global mean isotopic signatures. We investigated coal, natural gas/oil, wetland, livestock, and biomass burning source signatures to determine whether regional variations impact the observed isotopic trend and spatial distribution. Based on recently published source signature datasets, our calculated global mean isotopic signatures are in general lighter than the commonly used values. Trends in several isotopic signatures were also apparent during the period 1990-2010. Tropical livestock emissions grew during the 2000s, introducing isotopically heavier livestock emissions since tropical livestock consume more C4 vegetation than midlatitude livestock. Chinese coal emissions, which are isotopically heavy compared to other coals, increase during the 2000s leading to higher global values of δ13CH4 for coal emissions. EDGAR v4.2 emissions disagree with the observed atmospheric isotopic trend for almost all simulations, confirming past doubts about this emissions inventory. The agreement between the modelled and observed δ13CH4 interhemispheric differences improves when regional source signatures are used. Even though the simulated results are highly dependent on the choice of methane emission inventories, they emphasize that the commonly used

Fast Heavy-Atom Tunneling in Trifluoroacetyl Nitrene.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Zhuang; Feng, Ruijuan; Li, Hongmin; Xu, Jian; Deng, Guohai; Abe, Manabu; Bégué, Didier; Liu, Kun; Zeng, Xiaoqing

2017-12-04

Chemical reactions involving quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) increasingly attract the attention of scientists. In contrast to the hydrogen-tunneling as frequently observed in chemistry and biology, tunneling solely by heavy atoms is rare. Herein, we report heavy-atom tunneling in trifluoroacetyl nitrene, CF 3 C(O)N. The carbonyl nitrene CF 3 C(O)N in the triplet ground state was generated in cryogenic matrices by laser (193 or 266 nm) photolysis of CF 3 C(O)N 3 and characterized by IR and EPR spectroscopy. In contrast to the theoretically predicted activation barriers (>10 kcal mol -1 ), CF 3 C(O)N undergoes rapid rearrangement into CF 3 NCO with half-life times of less than 10 min and unprecedentedly large 14 N/ 15 N kinetic isotope effects (1.18-1.33) in solid Ar, Ne, and N 2 matrices even at 2.8 K. The tunneling disappearance of CF 3 C(O)N becomes much slower in the chemically active toluene and in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran at 5 K. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Direct measurement of burn up monitor by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) followed by Isotopic Dilution Mass Spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sajimol, R.; Manoravi, P.; NaIini, S.; Balasubramanian, R.; Joseph, M.

2012-01-01

Burn-up measurement is an important aspect in the assessment of fuel performance especially for experimental nuclear fuels. Conventional mass spectrometric technique offer the best accuracy for determination of burn-up but they suffer from the labour intensive and time consuming chemical separation procedures followed by mass spectrometric analysis. Our laboratory has reported a potential laser mass spectrometric technique with advantages of (i) direct and fast measurement of ion intensities of selected rare earth element and residual heavy element atoms to deduce burn up and (ii) adaptability to remote handling of radioactive samples. Direct quantification of burn up monitor element in fuel in the form of pellet as well as liquid was probed by pulsed laser deposition followed by Isotopic Dilution Mass Spectrometric technique (IDMS). The procedure involving laser ablation of heavy element (namely U and Pu) and fission product (Nd, La etc) from a simulated spent fuel matrix followed by isotopic dilution mass spectrometry using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) has been presently attempted to arrive at the rare earth element to heavy element ratio to deduce burn up using the methodology described in our earlier work. The details of IDMS technique has been reviewed by Heumann et al. Accurately weighed amounts of major rare earth fission products such as Nd, La, Ce and Sm in solution form were mixed with known quantity of uranium solution (all the weights are corresponding to their fission yields and the residual heavy element atoms after a given burn up) and mixed together to attain uniformity. The solution is then dried and resulting powder was pelletized and sintered. Subsequently, the pellet was ablated with pulsed laser (8 ns, 532 nm, Nd-YAG) and the plume was deposited on a glass plate. This deposit was dissolved in minimum amount of nitric acid. A known volume of the solution was mixed with spike (for e.g., 150 Nd/ 142 Nd, 233 U/ 238 U in this study

The isotopic contamination in electromagnetic isotope separators; La contagion isotopique dans les separateurs electromagnetiques d'isotopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cassignol, Ch. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1959-07-01

In the early years of isotope separation, and in particular electromagnetic isotope separation, needs for rapid results have conducted to empiric research. This paper describes fundamental research on the electromagnetic isotope separation to a better understanding of isotope separators as well as improving the performances. Focus has been made on the study of the principle of isotope contamination and the remedial action on the separator to improve the isotope separation ratio. In a first part, the author come back to the functioning of an electromagnetic separator and generalities on isotope contamination. Secondly, it describes the two stages separation method with two dispersive apparatus, an electromagnetic separation stage followed by an electrostatic separation stage, both separated by a diaphragm. The specifications of the electrostatic stage are given and its different settings and their consequences on isotope separation are investigated. In a third part, mechanisms and contamination factors in the isotope separation are discussed: natural isotope contamination, contamination by rebounding on the collector, contamination because of a low resolution, contamination by chromatism and diffusion effect, breakdown of condenser voltage. Analysis of experimental results shows the diffusion as the most important contamination factor in electromagnetic isotope separation. As contamination factors are dependent on geometric parameters, sector angle, radius of curvature in the magnetic field and clearance height are discussed in a fourth part. The better understanding of the mechanism of the different contamination factors and the study of influential parameters as pressure and geometric parameters lead to define a global scheme of isotope contamination and determinate optima separator design and experimental parameters. Finally, the global scheme of isotope contamination and hypothesis on optima specifications and experimental parameters has been checked during a

Nuclear structure and heavy-ion fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stokstad, R.G.

1980-10-01

A series of lectures is presented on experimental studies of heavy-ion fusion reactions with emphasis on the role of nuclear structure in the fusion mechanism. The experiments considered are of three types: the fusion of lighter heavy ions at subcoulomb energies is studied with in-beam γ-ray techniques; the subbarrier fusion of 16 O and 40 Ar with the isotopes of samarium is detected out of beam by x-radiation from delayed activity; and measurements at very high energies, again for the lighter ions, employ direct particle identification of evaporation residues. The experimental data are compared with predictions based on the fusion of two spheres with the only degree of freedom being the separation of the centers, and which interact via potentials that vary smoothly with changes in the mass and charge of the projectile and target. The data exhibit with the isotopes of samarium, a portion of these deviations can be understood in terms of the changing deformation of the target nucleus, but an additional degree of freedom such as neck formation appears necessary. The results on 10 B + 16 O and 12 C + 14 N → 26 Al at high bombarding energies indicate a maximum limiting angular momentum characteristic of the compound nucleus. At lower energies the nuclear structure of the colliding ion seems to affect strongly the cross section for fusion. Measurements made at subbarrier energies for a variety of projectile-target combinations in the 1p and 2s - 1d shell also indicate that the valence nucleons can affect the energy dependence for fusion. About half the systems studied so far have structureless excitation functions which follow a standard prediction. The other half exhibit large variations from this prediction. The possible importance of neutron transfer is discussed. The two-center shell model appears as a promising approach for gaining a qualitative understanding of these phenomena. 95 references, 52 figures, 1 table

Development on the cryogenic hydrogen isotopes distillation process technology for tritium removal (Final report)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sung, Ki Woung; Kim, Yong Ik; Na, Jeong Won; Ku, Jae Hyu; Kim, Kwang Rak; Jeong, Yong Won; Lee, Han Soo; Cho, Young Hyun; Ahn, Do Hee; Baek, Seung Woo; Kang, Hee Seok; Kim, You Sun

1995-12-01

While tritium exposure to the site-workers in Wolsung NPP is up to about 40% of the total personnel exposure, Ministry of Science and Technology has asked tritium removal facility for requirement of post heavy-water reactor construction. For the purpose of essential removal of tritium from the Wolsung heavy-water reactor system, a preliminary study on the cryogenic Ar-N 2 and H 2 -D 2 distillation process for development of liquid-phase catalytic exchange cryogenic hydrogen distillation process technology. The Ar-N 2 distillation column showed good performance with approximately 97% of final Ar concentration, and a computer simulation code was modified using these data. A simulation code developed for cryogenic hydrogen isotopes (H 2 , HD, D 2 , HT, DT, T 2 ) distillation column showed good performance after comparison with the result of a JAERI code, and a H 2 -D 2 distillation column was made. Gas chromatography for hydrogen isotopes analysis was established using a vacuum sampling loop, and a schematic diagram of H 2 -D 2 distillation process was suggested. A feasibility on modification of H 2 -D 2 distillation process control system using Laser Raman Spectroscopy was studied, and the consideration points for tritium storage system for Wolsung tritium removal facility was suggested. 31 tabs., 79 figs., 68 refs. (Author)

The conflict between cheetahs and humans on Namibian farmland elucidated by stable isotope diet analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian C Voigt

Full Text Available Large areas of Namibia are covered by farmland, which is also used by game and predator species. Because it can cause conflicts with farmers when predators, such as cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus, hunt livestock, we assessed whether livestock constitutes a significant part of the cheetah diet by analysing the stable isotope composition of blood and tissue samples of cheetahs and their potential prey species. According to isotopic similarities, we defined three isotopic categories of potential prey: members of a C4 food web with high δ15N values (gemsbok, cattle, springhare and guinea fowl and those with low δ15N values (hartebeest, warthog, and members of a C3 food web, namely browsers (eland, kudu, springbok, steenbok and scrub hare. We quantified the trophic discrimination of heavy isotopes in cheetah muscle in 9 captive individuals and measured an enrichment for 15N (3.2‰ but not for 13C in relation to food. We captured 53 free-ranging cheetahs of which 23 were members of groups. Cheetahs of the same group were isotopically distinct from members of other groups, indicating that group members shared their prey. Solitary males (n = 21 and males in a bachelor groups (n = 11 fed mostly on hartebeest and warthogs, followed by browsers in case of solitary males, and by grazers with high δ15N values in case of bachelor groups. Female cheetahs (n = 9 predominantly fed on browsers and used also hartebeest and warthogs. Mixing models suggested that the isotopic prey category that included cattle was only important, if at all, for males living in bachelor groups. Stable isotope analysis of fur, muscle, red blood cells and blood plasma in 9 free-ranging cheetahs identified most individuals as isotopic specialists, focussing on isotopically distinct prey categories as their food.

The Conflict between Cheetahs and Humans on Namibian Farmland Elucidated by Stable Isotope Diet Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, Christian C.; Thalwitzer, Susanne; Melzheimer, Jörg; Blanc, Anne-Sophie; Jago, Mark; Wachter, Bettina

2014-01-01

Large areas of Namibia are covered by farmland, which is also used by game and predator species. Because it can cause conflicts with farmers when predators, such as cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), hunt livestock, we assessed whether livestock constitutes a significant part of the cheetah diet by analysing the stable isotope composition of blood and tissue samples of cheetahs and their potential prey species. According to isotopic similarities, we defined three isotopic categories of potential prey: members of a C4 food web with high δ15N values (gemsbok, cattle, springhare and guinea fowl) and those with low δ15N values (hartebeest, warthog), and members of a C3 food web, namely browsers (eland, kudu, springbok, steenbok and scrub hare). We quantified the trophic discrimination of heavy isotopes in cheetah muscle in 9 captive individuals and measured an enrichment for 15N (3.2‰) but not for 13C in relation to food. We captured 53 free-ranging cheetahs of which 23 were members of groups. Cheetahs of the same group were isotopically distinct from members of other groups, indicating that group members shared their prey. Solitary males (n = 21) and males in a bachelor groups (n = 11) fed mostly on hartebeest and warthogs, followed by browsers in case of solitary males, and by grazers with high δ15N values in case of bachelor groups. Female cheetahs (n = 9) predominantly fed on browsers and used also hartebeest and warthogs. Mixing models suggested that the isotopic prey category that included cattle was only important, if at all, for males living in bachelor groups. Stable isotope analysis of fur, muscle, red blood cells and blood plasma in 9 free-ranging cheetahs identified most individuals as isotopic specialists, focussing on isotopically distinct prey categories as their food. PMID:25162403

Strontium isotope fractionation during strontianite (SrCO3) dissolution, precipitation and at equilibrium

Science.gov (United States)

Mavromatis, Vasileios; Harrison, Anna L.; Eisenhauer, Anton; Dietzel, Martin

2017-12-01

In this study we examine the behavior of stable Sr isotopes between strontianite [SrCO3] and reactive fluid during mineral dissolution, precipitation, and at chemical equilibrium. Experiments were performed in batch reactors at 25 °C in 0.01 M NaCl solutions wherein the pH was adjusted by bubbling of a water saturated gas phase of pure CO2 or atmospheric air. The equilibrium Sr isotope fractionation between strontianite and fluid after dissolution of the solid under 1 atm CO2 atmosphere was estimated as Δ88/86SrSrCO3-fluid = δ88/86Sr SrCO3 - δ88/86Srfluid = -0.05 ± 0.01‰. On the other hand, during strontianite precipitation, an enrichment of the fluid phase in 88Sr, the heavy isotopomer, was observed. The evolution of the δ88/86Srfluid during strontianite precipitation can be modeled using a Rayleigh distillation approach and the estimated, kinetically driven, fractionation factor αSrCO3-fluid between solid and fluid is calculated to be 0.99985 ± 0.00003 corresponding to Δ88/86SrSrCO3-fluid = -0.15‰. The obtained results further support that under chemical equilibrium conditions between solid and fluid a continuous exchange of isotopes occurs until the system approaches isotopic equilibrium. This isotopic exchange is not limited to the outer surface layer of the strontianite crystal, but extends to ∼7-8 unit cells below the crystal surface. The behavior of Sr isotopes in this study is in excellent agreement with the concept of dynamic equilibrium and it suggests that the time needed for achievement of chemical equilibrium is generally shorter compared to that for isotopic equilibrium. Thus it is suggested that in natural Sr-bearing carbonates an isotopic change may still occur close to thermodynamic equilibrium, despite no observable change in aqueous elemental concentrations. As such, a secondary and ongoing change of Sr isotope signals in carbonate minerals caused by isotopic re-equilibration with fluids has to be considered in order to use Sr

Development of an EBIS charge breeder for the Rare Isotope Science Project

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Hyock-Jun; Park, Young-Ho; Kondrashev, Sergey; Kim, Jongwon; Lee, Bong Ju; Chung, Moses

2017-10-01

In Korea, a heavy ion accelerator facility called RAON is being designed to produce various rare isotopes for the Rare Isotope Science Project (RISP) (Jeong, 2016) [1], (Moon, 2014) [2]. This facility is designed to use both In-flight Fragment (IF) and Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) techniques in order to produce a wide variety of RI beams for nuclear physics experiments. An Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) will be used for charge breeding of Rare Isotope (RI) beams in the ISOL system. The charge-to-mass ratio (q/A) of the RI beams after charge breeding is ≥1/4. The highly charged RI beams will be accelerated by a linac post-accelerator and delivered to a low energy (∼18 MeV/u) experimental hall or the IF system. The RAON EBIS will use a 3 A electron gun and a 6 T superconducting solenoid for high capacity, high efficiency, and short breeding time. In front of the charge breeder, an RFQ cooler-buncher will be used to deliver a bunched beam with small emittance to the EBIS charge breeder. The main design of the RAON EBIS has been carried out on the basis of several beam analyses and technical reviews. In this paper, current progress of the development of the RAON EBIS charge breeder will be presented.

Qualitative evaluation of heavy metals in soils using portable XRF instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCain, R.G.

1993-10-01

Portable isotope-source energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers can provide rapid on site screening for heavy metals in soils. Their use generally involves empirical calibration to a suite of representative soil samples spiked with a range of concentrations of the analytes of interest. In most cases, only a limited number of analytes can be measured with this approach, because of constraints imposed by the operational software and costs associated with preparing the calibration suite. A simple approach is described that provides a qualitative indication of anomalous concentrations of heavy metals based on numeric comparison of gross count rates to background values. This approach can rapidly identify contaminated soils and does not depend on a suite of calibration samples. Direct measurements can be made to rapidly map soil contamination without sample collection, and the method can also be applied to other surfaces such as concrete

Experimental studies of the transfer phenomena of tritium in an isotope exchange column for tritium recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bornea, Anisia; Cristescu, Ion; Zamfirache, Marius; Varlam, Carmen

2003-01-01

To extract the tritium generated in the heavy water moderated power reactor, we have chosen the catalytic isotope exchange process in liquid phase combined with cryogenic distillation LPCE-CD. This paper presents the experimental studies of the catalytic isotope transfer of tritium. The catalytic isotope exchange process is performed in a column filled with successive layers of catalyst PT/C/PTFE and B7 type ordered package of phosphorous bronze. The catalyst and the package are manufactured in our institute and corresponding patents were issues. The catalyst consists of 95.5 wt.% PTFE, 4.1 wt. % carbon and 0.40 wt. % platinum and was made with 10'10'2 mm Raschig rings. The ordered package was consists of wire mesh phosphor bronze of 4'1 wire with a mesh size of 0.18 x 0.48 mm. The paper also presents the mathematical model which is used to evaluate the performance of the process. The mathematical model and the experimental data allowed determining two speed constants for isotope exchange process and for distillation process, respectively. By considering the values of these speed constants it is possible to improve the hydrophobic Pt catalyst and to design the H 2 /H 2 O isotopic exchange column package with this catalyst. (authors)

Possibilities for Beam Stripping Solutions at a Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greife, Uwe

2006-01-01

As part of the DOE RIA R and D effort we investigated the possibilities and problems of beam strippers in the different heavy ion accelerator components of a possible Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) facility. We focused on two beam stripping positions in the RIA heavy ion driver where benchmark currents of up to 5 particle (micro)A 238-U were projected at energies of 10.5 MeV/u and 85 MeV/u respectively. In order to select feasible stripper materials, data from experiments with Uranium beams at Texas A and M and GSI were evaluated. Based on these results thermal estimates for a possible design were calculated and cooling simulations with commercially available software performed. Additionally, we performed simulations with the GEANT4 code on evaluating the radiation environment for our beam stripping solution at the 85 MeV/u position in the RIA driver

Possibilities for beam stripping solutions at a rare isotope accelerator (RIA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greife, Uwe; Simmons, Ellen; Erikson, Luke; Jewett, Cybele; Livesay, Jake; Chipps, Kelly

2007-01-01

We investigated the possibilities and problems of beam strippers in the different heavy ion accelerator components of a possible rare isotope accelerator (RIA) facility. We focused on two beam stripping positions in the RIA heavy ion driver where benchmark currents of up to 5 particle μA 238 U were projected at energies of 10.5 MeV/u and 85 MeV/u, respectively. In order to select feasible stripper materials, data from experiments with uranium beams at the Texas A and M cyclotron and the Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung (GSI) accelerator were evaluated. Based on these results thermal estimates for a possible design were calculated and cooling simulations with commercially available software performed. Additionally, we performed simulations with the GEANT4 code on evaluating the radiation environment for our beam stripping solution at the 85 MeV/u position in the RIA driver

Sensitive and substrate-specific detection of metabolically active microorganisms in natural microbial consortia using community isotope arrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Tourlousse, Dieter M; Kurisu, Futoshi; Tobino, Tomohiro; Furumai, Hiroaki

2013-05-01

The goal of this study was to develop and validate a novel fosmid-clone-based metagenome isotope array approach - termed the community isotope array (CIArray) - for sensitive detection and identification of microorganisms assimilating a radiolabeled substrate within complex microbial communities. More specifically, a sample-specific CIArray was used to identify anoxic phenol-degrading microorganisms in activated sludge treating synthetic coke-oven wastewater in a single-sludge predenitrification-nitrification process. Hybridization of the CIArray with DNA from the (14) C-phenol-amended sample indicated that bacteria assimilating (14) C-atoms, presumably directly from phenol, under nitrate-reducing conditions were abundant in the reactor, and taxonomic assignment of the fosmid clone end sequences suggested that they belonged to the Gammaproteobacteria. The specificity of the CIArray was validated by quantification of fosmid-clone-specific DNA in density-resolved DNA fractions from samples incubated with (13) C-phenol, which verified that all CIArray-positive probes stemmed from microorganisms that assimilated isotopically labeled carbon. This also demonstrated that the CIArray was more sensitive than DNA-SIP, as the former enabled positive detection at a phenol concentration that failed to yield a 'heavy' DNA fraction. Finally, two operational taxonomic units distantly related to marine Gammaproteobacteria were identified to account for more than half of 16S rRNA gene clones in the 'heavy' DNA library, corroborating the CIArray-based identification. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monte Carlo simulation for neutron yield produced by bombarding thick targets with high energy heavy ions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oranj, Leila Mokhtari; Oh, Joo Hee; Yoon, Moo Hyun; Lee, Hee Seock [POSTECH, Pohang (Korea, Republic of)

2013-04-15

One of radiation shielding issues at heavy-ion accelerator facilities is to estimate neutron production by primary heavy ions. A few Monte Carlo transport codes such as FLUKA and PHITS can work with primary heavy ions. Recently IBS/RISP((Rare Isotope Science Project) started to design a high-energy, high-power rare isotope accelerator complex for nuclear physics, medical and material science and applications. There is a lack of experimental and simulated data about the interaction of major beam, {sup 238}U with materials. For the shielding design of the end of first accelerating section section, we calculate a differential neutron yield using the FLUKA code for the interaction of 18.5 MeV/u uranium ion beam with thin carbon stripper of 1.3 μm). The benchmarking studies were also done to prove the yield calculation for 400 MeV/n {sup 131}Xe and other heavy ions. In this study, the benchmarking for Xe-C, Xe-Cu, Xe-Al, Xe-Pb and U-C, other interactions were performed using the FLUKA code. All of results show that the FLUKA can evaluate the heavy ion induced reaction with good uncertainty. For the evaluation of neutron source term, the calculated neutron yields are shown in Fig. 2. The energy of Uranium ion beam is only 18.5 MeV/u, but the energy of produced secondary neutrons was extended over 100 MeV. So the neutron shielding and the damage by those neutrons is expected to be serious. Because of thin stripper, the neutron intensity at forward direction was high. But the the intensity of produced secondary photons was relatively low and mostly the angular property was isotropic. For the detail shielding design of stripper section of RISP rare istope accelerator, the benchmarking study and preliminary evaluation of neutron source term from uranium beam have been carried out using the FLUKA code. This study is also compared with the evaluation results using the PHITS code performed coincidently. Both studies shows that two monte carlo codes can give a good results for

Heavy ion deep inelastic collisions studied by discrete gamma ray spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krolas, W.

1996-05-01

The discrete gamma ray spectroscopy has been used as a tool to investigate the heavy ion collision. It has been shown that such experimental information supplemented by results of additional of-line radioactivity measurements is complete enough to reconstruct distributions of products of very complex nuclear reactions. Three experiments have been performed in which the 208 Pb + 64 Ni, 130 Te + 64 Ni and 208 Pb + 58 Ni systems have been created. The production cross sections of fragment isotopes have been determined and compared with existing model predictions

Enrichment of heavy water in thermal-diffusion columns connected in series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeh, Ho-Ming; Chen, Liu Yi

2009-01-01

The separation equations for enrichment of heavy water from water isotope mixture by thermal diffusion in multiple columns connected in series, have been derived based on one column design developed in previous work. The improvement in separation is achievable by operating in a double-column device, instead of in a single-column device, with the same total column length. It is also found that further improvement in separation is obtainable if a triple-column device is employed, except for operating under small total column length and low flow rate.

Segregation of Calcium Isotopes in the Atmospheres of CP Stars as a Consequence of Light-Induced Drift

Science.gov (United States)

Parkhomenko, A. I.; Shalagin, A. M.

2018-06-01

A mechanism for the segregation of calcium isotopes in the atmospheres of chemically peculiar (CP) stars due to light-induced drift (LID) of singly charged 48Ca+ ions is discussed. One peculiarity of Ca+ is that an adequate description of the effect of LID requires taking into account several energy levels of Ca+, and thus several pairs of relative differences ( ν i - ν k )/ ν i for the transport frequencies for collisions of levels i and k with neutral atoms (hydrogen, helium). The known real (calculated ab initio) interaction potentials are used to numerically calculate the factors ( ν i - ν k )/ ν i for several states of Ca+ for collisions with H and He atoms. These computations show that, at the temperatures characteristic of the atmospheres of CP stars, T = 6600-12 000 K, fairly high values are obtained for Ca+ ions, ( ν i - ν k )/ ν i ≈ 0.4-0.6. Simple, transparent computations demonstrate that the LID rates of Ca+ ions in the atmospheres of cool CP stars ( T eff = 6600 K) exceed the drift rate due to light pressure by two orders of magnitude. The LID is directed upward in the stellar atmosphere, and the heavy isotope 48Ca is pushed into upper layers of the atmosphere. This can explain the observed predominance of the heavy isotope 48Ca in the upper atmospheric layers of CP stars; according to the radiative-diffusion theory, the action of light pressure alone (in the absence of LID) would lead to sinking of the isotope 48Ca deeper into stellar atmosphere, following the lighter main isotope 40Ca. The 48Ca+ LIDrate decreases and its drift rate due to light pressure increases with growth of the effective temperatures in the atmospheres of CP stars. The manifestations of LID and light pressure are roughly comparable in the atmospheres of CP stars with effective temperatures near T eff = 9500 K.

Chemical and isotopic evolution of a layered eastern U.S. snowpack and its relation to stream-water composition

Science.gov (United States)

Shanley, J.B.; Kendall, C.; Albert, M.R.; Hardy, J.P.

1995-01-01

The chemical, isotopic, and morphologic evolution of a layered snowpack was investigated during the winter of 1993-94 at Sleepers River Research Watershed in Danville, Vermont. The snowpack was monitored at two small basins: a forested basin at 525 m elevation, and an agricultural basin at 292 m elevation. At each site, the snowpack morphology was characterized and individual layers were sampled seven times during the season. Nitrate and 8d18O profiles in the snowpack remained relatively stable until peak accumulation in mid-March, except near the snow surface, where rain-on-snow events caused water and nitrate movement down to impeding ice layers. Subsequently, water and nitrate moved more readily through the ripening snowpack. As the snowpack evolved, combined processes of preferential ion elution, isotopic fractionation, and infiltration of isotopically heavy rainfall caused the pack to become depleted in solutes and isotopically enriched. The release of nitrate and isotopically depleted water was reflected in patterns of nitrate concentrations and ??18O of meltwater and stream water. Results supported data from the previous year which suggested that streamflow in the forested basin during snowmelt was dominated by groundwater discharge.

Synthesis and properties of neutron deficient isotopes of elements around Z=100

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antalic, S.

2005-01-01

In the presented Thesis work the results of spectroscopic studies of 246 Md, 247 Md, 254 Lr and 255 Lr decay chains are given. These isotopes were produced using heavy ion induced fusion reactions of 40 Ar + 209 Bi and 48 Ca + 209 Bi as a part of the long term project aimed to study spectroscopy properties of superheavy elements. The experiments were performed at velocity filter SHIP, placed at the central beam line of the UNILAC accelerator at GSI Darmstadt in Germany. The work also gives a basic overview of research in the region of superheavy elements, description of the used experimental setup and shows the usual analysis methods used in spectroscopic studies in the region of elements around Z ∼ 100. The results were obtained using α, α - γ spectroscopy methods and recoil - α, α - α correlations search. Although these isotopes have been known for a longer time, no detailed spectroscopy investigation were performed so far and only rough information was known. Beside the improved precision of known data, this work gives a new information about the decay properties of these isotopes. This give us the possibility to build a decay schemes for mentioned decay chains. (author)

Stable isotope and radiocarbon analyses at the Stripa test site. Phase I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, P.; Frape, S.K.; Fontes, J.C.

1985-01-01

The 18 O and 2 H contents of groundwaters in the Stripa granite document that deep and shallow groundwaters have a different origin and history. The lower heavy isotopes contents of the deep waters suggest recharge during a cooler climate and thus, possibly, an older age. This is supported by radiocarbon data-although it is not possible to deduce from much data definite ages or mean residence times of the deep waters. Widely variable carbon-13 contents in aqueous carbon and fracture calcites attest to the heterogeneous environments which characterize(d) these fracture systems: very negative S 13 C values in DIC and calcites provide strong indications that redox processes are active (bacterially mediated) and that both S 13 C of DIC and S 34 S values of aqueous sulfate are affected. This is relevant for an overall description of the geochemical environment, yet it has not been possible to assign a definite origin to the aqueous sulfate of these waters. Isotope data also demonstrate that it is not possible to ''age-date'' the deep waters on the basis of isotope echange reactions between sulfate and water

Laser-spectroscopic nuclear-structure studies on radioactive silver and indium isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dinger, U.

1988-05-01

Neutron-deficient silver and neutron-rich indium isotopes were studied by collinear laser spectroscopy. The neutron-deficient nuclei 101 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 105m , 106m Ag were produced as evaporation-residual nuclei in heavy-ion fusion reactions at the mass separator of the GSI in Darmstadt. The fourteen studied indium isotopes and isomers with even mass number in the range 112-126 In were produced by 600-MeV-proton induced fission of a uranium carbide target at the ISOLDE separator in Geneva. The mass-separated ion beam was subsequently deviated electrostatically, neutralized in a sodium vapor and superposed with a c w dye laser. A photon counting system detected the resonance fluorescence of the induced transitions. The hyperfine structure and the isotope shift of the 4d 9 5s 2 2 D 5/2 → 4d 10 6p 2 P 3/2 transition (λ=547.7 nm) in silver and the 5p 2 P 1/2,3/2 → 6s 2 s 1/2 transition (λ=410 respectively 451 nm) in indium were measured. While in indium for the analysis of the data earlier work could be referred to, in silver a detailed analysis of the isotope shift and hyperfine structure was performed by means of ab initio calculations and semi-empirical procedures. Thereby the configuration interactions were especially considered. The nuclear moments were discussed in the framework of existing nuclear models regarding nuclear-spectroscopic informations. (orig./HSI) [de

Isotopic composition on ground ice in Western Yamal (Marre-Sale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. D. Streletskaya

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The profile of Quaternary sediments near Marre-Salle polar station, Western Yamal Peninsula, has large bodies of tabular ground ice. This profile is considered strata-typical and critical in understanding of paleogeographic conditions of the Arctic in Pleistocene-Holocene. However, interpretation of the profile is under discussion. It consists of two distinct strata: upper layer of 10–15 m thick represented by continental sediments and lower one with a thickness of more than 100 m represented by marine sediments. Lower layer of saline marine clays has lenses of tabular ground ice (more than 20 m thick, the bases of which are below the sea level. Upper continental layer is characterized by syngenetic ice-wedges of different generations. Samples were collected from ice-wedges and tabular ground ice for chemical and isotope analysis. The results of the analysis allow to reconstruct paleogeographic conditions of the sedimentation and freezing of Quaternary sediments. Heavy stable isotope content and relationship between oxygen and hydrogen isotopes show that the ice bodies in the lower layer were formed in-situ within the ground. In the upper layer, heavier isotope content found in younger ice-wedges relative to the old-generation wedges. Formation of massive syngenetic Upper-Pleistocene ice-wedges occurred in conditions of colder winter temperatures than at present. Syngenetic Holocene wedges were formed after Holocene Optimum under winter conditions similar to present. Younger ice wedges formed smaller polygons, were smaller and often were developing in the locations of the degraded old wedges. Results of the isotope analysis of various types of ground ice near Marre-Sale allow reconstructing changes of marine sedimentation to continental one around Kargino time (MIS 3 and changes in climatic conditions in Arctic in Late Pleistocene and Holocene.

The CN/C15N isotopic ratio towards dark clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Hily-Blant, P.; Pineau des Forêts, G.; Faure, A.; Le Gal, R.; Padovani, M.

2013-09-01

Understanding the origin of the composition of solar system cosmomaterials is a central question, not only in the cosmochemistry and astrochemistry fields, and requires various approaches to be combined. Measurements of isotopic ratios in cometary materials provide strong constraints on the content of the protosolar nebula. Their relation with the composition of the parental dark clouds is, however, still very elusive. In this paper, we bring new constraints based on the isotopic composition of nitrogen in dark clouds, with the aim of understanding the chemical processes that are responsible for the observed isotopic ratios. We have observed and detected the fundamental rotational transition of C15N towards two starless dark clouds, L1544 and L1498. We were able to derive the column density ratio of C15N over 13CN towards the same clouds and obtain the CN/C15N isotopic ratios, which were found to be 500 ± 75 for both L1544 and L1498. These values are therefore marginally consistent with the protosolar value of 441. Moreover, this ratio is larger than the isotopic ratio of nitrogen measured in HCN. In addition, we present model calculations of the chemical fractionation of nitrogen in dark clouds, which make it possible to understand how CN can be deprived of 15N and HCN can simultaneously be enriched in heavy nitrogen. The non-fractionation of N2H+, however, remains an open issue, and we propose some chemical way of alleviating the discrepancy between model predictions and the observed ratios. Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.orgThe reduced spectra (in FITS format) are available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/557/A65

Isotopic shift in even-even barium isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karim, Afaque; Naz, Tabassum; Ahmad, Shakeb

2017-01-01

We have discussed the correlation between a nuclear shape and its matter distribution. Here, we present the root-mean-square radii (r rms ) and rms charge radius (r ch ). We have also discussed the isotopic shift in terms of the observable ‹Δr 2 c › N,82 and its differential ‹Δr 2 c › N-2,N . We present nuclear radii evaluated using different interactions. Neutron radii and charge radii for all the isotopic chains are shown. Neutron radii for Ba isotopes show an increasing trend with the neutron number for all isotopic chains. One can observe a clear kink about magic number N=82

The effects of the 'key' molar mass on the design of a cascade handling a multi-isotopic mixture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raichura, R.C.; Al-Janabi, M.A.M.

1991-01-01

The parameters required for describing the characteristics of separating units and cascades handling a multi-isotope mixture are first reviewed from previous work and then expressed in terms of a newly defined parameter called the 'Key' molar mass. The effects of the latter on the operating and economic parameters of a gas centrifuge cascade handling a multi-isotopic mixture are studied. Only cascades of the 'primitive' type, i.e. those in which the feed of a stage is made up of the light and heavy fractions of neighbouring stages, are considered. The costs incurred in obtaining outputs with specified concentrations are then discussed. (author)

Chemically modified glasses for analysis of hydrogen isotopes by gas-chromatography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stanciu, Vasile; Stefanescu, Doina

1999-01-01

Hydrogen isotope separation process by such methods as cryogenic distillation or thermal diffusion method is one of the key technologies of the tritium separation from heavy water of CANDU reactors and in the tritium fuel cycle for a thermonuclear fusion reactor. In each process, the analytical techniques for measuring contents of hydrogen isotope mixture are necessary. An extensive experimental research has been carried out in order to produce the most suitable absorbent and define the best operating conditions for selective separation and analysis of hydrogen isotope by gas-chromatography. This paper describes the preparation of adsorbent materials utilised as stationary phase in the gas-chromatographic column for hydrogen isotope separation and treatment (activation) of stationary phase. Modified thermo-resisting glass with Fe(NH 4 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 2 6H 2 O and Cr 2 O 3 , respectively, have been experimentally investigated at 77 K for H 2 , HD and D 2 separation and the results of chromatographic runs are also reported and discussed. The gas-chromatographic apparatus used is composed of a Hewlett-Packard 7620A gas-chromatograph equipped with a gas carrier flow rate controller and a thermal conductivity detector (TCD). The apparatus comprises also a Dewar vessel containing the separation column. The hydrogen isotopes H 2 , HD, D 2 and their mixture have been obtained in our laboratories. The best operating conditions of the adsorbent column Fe (III)/glass and Cr 2 O 3 /glass, i.e. granulometry, column length, pressure-drop along the column, carrier gas flow rate, sample volume have been studied by means of the analysis of the retention times, separation factors and HETP. (authors)

Quantitative analysis of hydrogen and of its isotopes at the surface of the solids; Analyse quantitative de l'hydrogene et de ses isotopes a la surface des solides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trocellier, P. [CEA Saclay, Dept. des Materiaux pour le Nucleaire (DEN/DANS/DMN), 91 - Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

2007-07-01

For analyzing the hydrogen isotopes, the nature of the probe which allows to excite the considered material and to give the hydrogen answer is multiple and is supported by various physical principles. The different available techniques are presented and several examples are given. To conclude, it is possible to determine the superficial or volume distribution of hydrogen or of one of its two heavy isotopes in choosing the most physico-chemical method. The choice of the technique to use depends of the wanted performance. In order to simplify, we can associate: 1)the sensitivity with mass spectrometry; 2)the depth resolution with the glow discharge, the SIMS and the resonant nuclear reaction; 3)the studied depth with the accelerated ions beams and the AMS; 4)the distribution image with the electrons stimulated desorption, the beta autoradiography and the ERDA; 5)the quantitative profile with the accelerated ions beams techniques; 6)the isotopic analysis with mass spectrometry and the accelerated ions beams. In order to be sure of the relevance of the measurements result, it is indicated to combine the advantages and the performances of several techniques as SIMS and NRA or FTIR and ERDA for instance. (O.M.)

Stable isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, D.K.

1986-01-01

Seventy-five percent of the world's stable isotope supply comes from one producer, Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory (ORNL) in the US. Canadian concern is that foreign needs will be met only after domestic needs, thus creating a shortage of stable isotopes in Canada. This article describes the present situation in Canada (availability and cost) of stable isotopes, the isotope enrichment techniques, and related research programs at Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories (CRNL)

Abundance and Isotopic Composition of Gases in the Martian Atmosphere from the Curiosity Rover

Science.gov (United States)

Mahaffy, Paul R.; Webster, Christopher R.; Atreya, Sushil K.; Franz, Heather; Wong, Michael; Conrad, Pamela G.; Harpold, Dan; Jones, John J.; Leshin, Laurie A.; Manning, Heidi; Owen, Tobias; Pepin, Robert O.; Squyres, Steven; Trainer, Melissa; Kemppinen, Osku; Bridges, Nathan; Johnson, Jeffrey R.; Minitti, Michelle; Cremers, David; Bell, James F.; Edgar, Lauren; Farmer, Jack; Godber, Austin; Wadhwa, Meenakshi; Wellington, Danika; McEwan, Ian; Newman, Claire; Richardson, Mark; Charpentier, Antoine; Peret, Laurent; King, Penelope; Blank, Jennifer; Weigle, Gerald; Schmidt, Mariek; Li, Shuai; Milliken, Ralph; Robertson, Kevin; Sun, Vivian; Baker, Michael; Edwards, Christopher; Ehlmann, Bethany; Farley, Kenneth; Griffes, Jennifer; Grotzinger, John; Miller, Hayden; Newcombe, Megan; Pilorget, Cedric; Rice, Melissa; Siebach, Kirsten; Stack, Katie; Stolper, Edward; Brunet, Claude; Hipkin, Victoria; Léveillé, Richard; Marchand, Geneviève; Sánchez, Pablo Sobrón; Favot, Laurent; Cody, George; Steele, Andrew; Flückiger, Lorenzo; Lees, David; Nefian, Ara; Martin, Mildred; Gailhanou, Marc; Westall, Frances; Israël, Guy; Agard, Christophe; Baroukh, Julien; Donny, Christophe; Gaboriaud, Alain; Guillemot, Philippe; Lafaille, Vivian; Lorigny, Eric; Paillet, Alexis; Pérez, René; Saccoccio, Muriel; Yana, Charles; Armiens-Aparicio, Carlos; Rodríguez, Javier Caride; Blázquez, Isaías Carrasco; Gómez, Felipe Gómez; Gómez-Elvira, Javier; Hettrich, Sebastian; Malvitte, Alain Lepinette; Jiménez, Mercedes Marín; Martínez-Frías, Jesús; Martín-Soler, Javier; Martín-Torres, F. Javier; Jurado, Antonio Molina; Mora-Sotomayor, Luis; Caro, Guillermo Muñoz; López, Sara Navarro; Peinado-González, Verónica; Pla-García, Jorge; Manfredi, José Antonio Rodriguez; Romeral-Planelló, Julio José; Fuentes, Sara Alejandra Sans; Martinez, Eduardo Sebastian; Redondo, Josefina Torres; Urqui-O'Callaghan, Roser; Mier, María-Paz Zorzano; Chipera, Steve; Lacour, Jean-Luc; Mauchien, Patrick; Sirven, Jean-Baptiste; Fairén, Alberto; Hayes, Alexander; Joseph, Jonathan; Sullivan, Robert; Thomas, Peter; Dupont, Audrey; Lundberg, Angela; Melikechi, Noureddine; Mezzacappa, Alissa; DeMarines, Julia; Grinspoon, David; Reitz, Günther; Prats, Benito; Atlaskin, Evgeny; Genzer, Maria; Harri, Ari-Matti; Haukka, Harri; Kahanpää, Henrik; Kauhanen, Janne; Kemppinen, Osku; Paton, Mark; Polkko, Jouni; Schmidt, Walter; Siili, Tero; Fabre, Cécile; Wray, James; Wilhelm, Mary Beth; Poitrasson, Franck; Patel, Kiran; Gorevan, Stephen; Indyk, Stephen; Paulsen, Gale; Gupta, Sanjeev; Bish, David; Schieber, Juergen; Gondet, Brigitte; Langevin, Yves; Geffroy, Claude; Baratoux, David; Berger, Gilles; Cros, Alain; d'Uston, Claude; Forni, Olivier; Gasnault, Olivier; Lasue, Jérémie; Lee, Qiu-Mei; Maurice, Sylvestre; Meslin, Pierre-Yves; Pallier, Etienne; Parot, Yann; Pinet, Patrick; Schröder, Susanne; Toplis, Mike; Lewin, Éric; Brunner, Will; Heydari, Ezat; Achilles, Cherie; Oehler, Dorothy; Sutter, Brad; Cabane, Michel; Coscia, David; Israël, Guy; Szopa, Cyril; Dromart, Gilles; Robert, François; Sautter, Violaine; Le Mouélic, Stéphane; Mangold, Nicolas; Nachon, Marion; Buch, Arnaud; Stalport, Fabien; Coll, Patrice; François, Pascaline; Raulin, François; Teinturier, Samuel; Cameron, James; Clegg, Sam; Cousin, Agnès; DeLapp, Dorothea; Dingler, Robert; Jackson, Ryan Steele; Johnstone, Stephen; Lanza, Nina; Little, Cynthia; Nelson, Tony; Wiens, Roger C.; Williams, Richard B.; Jones, Andrea; Kirkland, Laurel; Treiman, Allan; Baker, Burt; Cantor, Bruce; Caplinger, Michael; Davis, Scott; Duston, Brian; Edgett, Kenneth; Fay, Donald; Hardgrove, Craig; Harker, David; Herrera, Paul; Jensen, Elsa; Kennedy, Megan R.; Krezoski, Gillian; Krysak, Daniel; Lipkaman, Leslie; Malin, Michael; McCartney, Elaina; McNair, Sean; Nixon, Brian; Posiolova, Liliya; Ravine, Michael; Salamon, Andrew; Saper, Lee; Stoiber, Kevin; Supulver, Kimberley; Van Beek, Jason; Van Beek, Tessa; Zimdar, Robert; French, Katherine Louise; Iagnemma, Karl; Miller, Kristen; Summons, Roger; Goesmann, Fred; Goetz, Walter; Hviid, Stubbe; Johnson, Micah; Lefavor, Matthew; Lyness, Eric; Breves, Elly; Dyar, M. Darby; Fassett, Caleb; Blake, David F.; Bristow, Thomas; DesMarais, David; Edwards, Laurence; Haberle, Robert; Hoehler, Tori; Hollingsworth, Jeff; Kahre, Melinda; Keely, Leslie; McKay, Christopher; Wilhelm, Mary Beth; Bleacher, Lora; Brinckerhoff, William; Choi, David; Dworkin, Jason P.; Eigenbrode, Jennifer; Floyd, Melissa; Freissinet, Caroline; Garvin, James; Glavin, Daniel; Jones, Andrea; Martin, David K.; McAdam, Amy; Pavlov, Alexander; Raaen, Eric; Smith, Michael D.; Stern, Jennifer; Tan, Florence; Meyer, Michael; Posner, Arik; Voytek, Mary; Anderson, Robert C.; Aubrey, Andrew; Beegle, Luther W.; Behar, Alberto; Blaney, Diana; Brinza, David; Calef, Fred; Christensen, Lance; Crisp, Joy A.; DeFlores, Lauren; Ehlmann, Bethany; Feldman, Jason; Feldman, Sabrina; Flesch, Gregory; Hurowitz, Joel; Jun, Insoo; Keymeulen, Didier; Maki, Justin; Mischna, Michael; Morookian, John Michael; Parker, Timothy; Pavri, Betina; Schoppers, Marcel; Sengstacken, Aaron; Simmonds, John J.; Spanovich, Nicole; Juarez, Manuel de la Torre; Vasavada, Ashwin R.; Yen, Albert; Archer, Paul Douglas; Cucinotta, Francis; Ming, Douglas; Morris, Richard V.; Niles, Paul; Rampe, Elizabeth; Nolan, Thomas; Fisk, Martin; Radziemski, Leon; Barraclough, Bruce; Bender, Steve; Berman, Daniel; Dobrea, Eldar Noe; Tokar, Robert; Vaniman, David; Williams, Rebecca M. E.; Yingst, Aileen; Lewis, Kevin; Cleghorn, Timothy; Huntress, Wesley; Manhès, Gérard; Hudgins, Judy; Olson, Timothy; Stewart, Noel; Sarrazin, Philippe; Grant, John; Vicenzi, Edward; Wilson, Sharon A.; Bullock, Mark; Ehresmann, Bent; Hamilton, Victoria; Hassler, Donald; Peterson, Joseph; Rafkin, Scot; Zeitlin, Cary; Fedosov, Fedor; Golovin, Dmitry; Karpushkina, Natalya; Kozyrev, Alexander; Litvak, Maxim; Malakhov, Alexey; Mitrofanov, Igor; Mokrousov, Maxim; Nikiforov, Sergey; Prokhorov, Vasily; Sanin, Anton; Tretyakov, Vladislav; Varenikov, Alexey; Vostrukhin, Andrey; Kuzmin, Ruslan; Clark, Benton; Wolff, Michael; McLennan, Scott; Botta, Oliver; Drake, Darrell; Bean, Keri; Lemmon, Mark; Schwenzer, Susanne P.; Anderson, Ryan B.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth; Lee, Ella Mae; Sucharski, Robert; Hernández, Miguel Ángel de Pablo; Ávalos, Juan José Blanco; Ramos, Miguel; Kim, Myung-Hee; Malespin, Charles; Plante, Ianik; Muller, Jan-Peter; Navarro-González, Rafael; Ewing, Ryan; Boynton, William; Downs, Robert; Fitzgibbon, Mike; Harshman, Karl; Morrison, Shaunna; Dietrich, William; Kortmann, Onno; Palucis, Marisa; Sumner, Dawn Y.; Williams, Amy; Lugmair, Günter; Wilson, Michael A.; Rubin, David; Jakosky, Bruce; Balic-Zunic, Tonci; Frydenvang, Jens; Jensen, Jaqueline Kløvgaard; Kinch, Kjartan; Koefoed, Asmus; Madsen, Morten Bo; Stipp, Susan Louise Svane; Boyd, Nick; Campbell, John L.; Gellert, Ralf; Perrett, Glynis; Pradler, Irina; VanBommel, Scott; Jacob, Samantha; Rowland, Scott; Atlaskin, Evgeny; Savijärvi, Hannu; Boehm, Eckart; Böttcher, Stephan; Burmeister, Sönke; Guo, Jingnan; Köhler, Jan; García, César Martín; Mueller-Mellin, Reinhold; Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert; Bridges, John C.; McConnochie, Timothy; Benna, Mehdi; Bower, Hannah; Brunner, Anna; Blau, Hannah; Boucher, Thomas; Carmosino, Marco; Elliott, Harvey; Halleaux, Douglas; Rennó, Nilton; Elliott, Beverley; Spray, John; Thompson, Lucy; Gordon, Suzanne; Newsom, Horton; Ollila, Ann; Williams, Joshua; Vasconcelos, Paulo; Bentz, Jennifer; Nealson, Kenneth; Popa, Radu; Kah, Linda C.; Moersch, Jeffrey; Tate, Christopher; Day, Mackenzie; Kocurek, Gary; Hallet, Bernard; Sletten, Ronald; Francis, Raymond; McCullough, Emily; Cloutis, Ed; ten Kate, Inge Loes; Kuzmin, Ruslan; Arvidson, Raymond; Fraeman, Abigail; Scholes, Daniel; Slavney, Susan; Stein, Thomas; Ward, Jennifer; Berger, Jeffrey; Moores, John E.

2013-07-01