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- Author or Editor: T. Mukherjee x
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Summary
A simple pre-irradiation separation approach has been worked out for the determination of traces of tellurium in high purity selenium followed by neutron activation analysis (NAA) for the end determination of the analyte/s. The difference in volatilities of these elements has been utilized for the separation of the analyte from the matrix. The complete volatility of selenium at ~600 °C was established using neutron activation analysis and selenium radiotracer. Standard addition was used to validate the results. The proposed method of separation of selenium prior to irradiation could make the determination of tellurium possible and also improved the detection limit by several folds.
Abstract
The dissolution of UO2 in carbonate-bicarbonate solutions containing sodium hypochlorite as an oxidant has been investigated. The effect of temperature, sodium hypochlorite concentration and stirring speed was examined. In the temperature range of 303 to 318 K, the leaching reaction displayed linear kinetics. Apparent activation energy obtained from the differential approach was found to be 57 kJ mol–1. This relatively high activation energy value indicates a chemically controlled behavior of UO2 dissolution. The order of reaction with respect to sodium hypochlorite concentration was found to be unity.
Summary
A simple ion-exchange separation procedure was developed for selective removal of antimony from synthetic cloth to facilitate determination of several trace elements frequently used to identify gunshot residues by neutron activation analysis. Radiotracers of Sb, Ba, Cu, Co, As, Zn, Hg and Ag were employed to optimize the developed procedure. The method involves the quantitative retention of the above elements, except of Sb, from 0.2M ammonium carbonate solution using Chelex 100 resin and subsequent quantitative elution of the elements of interest with 2M nitric acid for gamma-ray spectrometry. The procedure was tested by simulated gunshot residues.
Abstract
Mobilisation of alpha emitting radionuclides from silicious base sample is one the challenging task for environmental radiochemist. During this study, rapid and complete dissolution of the siliceous base samples were carried out by optimizing temperature, pressure and power of the microwaves. The Pu-239+240 in digested samples was pre-concentrated by scavenging Fe as Fe(OH)3. Pu-239+240 was isolated from the Fe(OH)3 by co-precipitating Pu with Bi(PO4) in HNO3 medium at pH 2. Pu-239+240 was separated from Bi(PO4) and other transuranics by passing through cation and anion exchange resin. Pu-239+240 was counted by alpha spectrometry after electroplating on stainless steel planchet. The detection limits achieved for Pu-239+240 was 60 μBq/g (2.6 × 10−14 g/g). Pu-242 was used as a tracer for the evaluation of recovery of Pu-239+240. Samples prepared after complete destruction of matrix in microwave, showed 10–20% higher concentration of Pu-239+240 compared to conventional acid leached. Consistent recovery in the range of 97–99% for Pu-242 were observed in microwave digested samples whereas inconsistent results were observed in acid leached samples where the recoveries were in the range of 75–86%. Siliceous matrix degradation was tracked by monitoring the surface morphology and composition of the residue left at various stages of digestion using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) coupled with Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS).
Abstract
During this work highly particle reactive nature of thorium was exploited for the separation of Th from aquatic stream containing U/Th. The Kd value of Th(IV) ions is 106 which is two order of magnitude higher than uranium (IV & VI). Laboratory simulated experiments were conducted to study the preferential removal of thorium by using siliceous material having particle size of about 2,000 μm. Siliceous material was prepared by decomposing the organic layer on soil particles by giving treatment with HNO3 and H2O2. Experimental solutions were generated by spiking the surface water with Th (NO3)4 and UO2(NO3)2. Experimental results shows preferential uptake of Th compared to U by siliceous material. This association is further improved by coating the siliceous material with high and low molecular weight organic materials i.e. humic and fulvic acid, respectively. Characterization of the organic material was done by ATR–FTIR whereas determination of Th was done by ICP-OES and alpha spectrometry. Experimental results clearly showed that Th and U sorption capacity is 1 and 0.3 μg mg−1 (w/w), respectively, in case of siliceous material. Thorium sorption is increased five and eight times in the case of coating with fulvic acid and humic acid, respectively. Whereas the same does not shows any pronounced impact on sorption of uranium.
Summary
Excitation functions were measured by stacked-foil technique for the natZn(p,x)61Cu, 66Zn(p,x)61Cu, 68Zn(p,x)61Cu and natZn(p,x)60Cu nuclear processes up to 100 MeV. The experimental cross sections were compared with published data. On the base of these excitation functions, the cross sections of 64Zn(p,x)61Cu process were also deduced. Integral thick target yields were calculated for the 64Zn(p,x)61Cu and nat,64Zn(p,x)60Cu processes and irradiation parameters were elaborated for the 61Cu production via the 64Zn+p reactions for low and middle energy accelerators. According to our calculations the yield of 61Cu amounts to 1.02 . 1011 Bq . A-1 . s-1 (9.9 mCi .µ A-1 . h-1) from 19®10 MeV while it reaches 3.91 . 1011 Bq . A-1 . s-1 (38 mCi . µ A-1 . h-1) in the energy range of 67®60 MeV.
