Half-life fission

Nuclide Half-life Fission yield % Major decay ... 

As the other source of radioactivity of FR, R D should be focused on the long-half-life fission products (FPs). Studies have been just started to transmute long-half-life radioactive fission products or to shorten half-Kves. Although further studies are necessary, it seems to be possible to solve this problem. For example, nuclide separation technology may be improved in efficiency with facilities such as lasers as well as particle accelerators. 

Xuclide Half-life Fission yield y, milliatoms Cross section (7, barns (at 0.025 ev)t Type poison... 

In 1964, workers at the Joint Nuclear Research Institute at Dubna (U.S.S.R.) bombarded plutonium with accelerated 113 to 115 MeV neon ions. By measuring fission tracks in a special glass with a microscope, they detected an isotope that decays by spontaneous fission. They suggested that this isotope, which had a half-life of 0.3 +/- 0.1 s might be 260-104, produced by the following reaction 242Pu + 22Ne —> 104 +4n. 

At Dubna, 280-MeV ions of 54Gr from the 310-cm cyclotron were used to strike targets of 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb, in separate runs. Foils exposed to a rotating target disc were used to detect spontaneous fission activities. The foils were etched and examined microscopically to detect the number of fission tracks and the half-life of the fission activity. 

A D—T fusion reactor is expected to have a tritium inventory of a few kilograms. Tritium is a relatively short-Hved (12.36 year half-life) and benign (beta emitter) radioactive material, and represents a radiological ha2ard many orders of magnitude less than does the fuel inventory in a fission reactor. Clearly, however, fusion reactors must be designed to preclude the accidental release of tritium or any other volatile radioactive material. There is no need to have fissile materials present in a fusion reactor, and relatively simple inspection techniques should suffice to prevent any clandestine breeding of fissile materials, eg, for potential weapons diversion. 

Krypton and Xenon from Huclear Power Plants. Both xenon and krypton are products of the fission of uranium and plutonium. These gases are present in the spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants in the ratio 1 Kr 4 Xe. Recovered krypton contains ca 6% of the radioactive isotope Kr-85, with a 10.7 year half-life, but all radioactive xenon isotopes have short half-Hves. 

Uranium-239 [13982-01 -9] has a half-life of 23.5 min neptunium-239 [13968-59-7] has a half-life of 2.355 d. Recycling or reprocessing of spent fuel involves separation of plutonium from uranium and from bulk fission product isotopes (see Nuclearreactors, chemical reprocessing). 

In the startup of a reactor, it is necessary to have a source of neutrons other than those from fission. Otherwise, it might be possible for the critical condition to be reached without any visual or audible signal. Two types of sources are used to supply neutrons. The first, appHcable when fuel is fresh, is califomium-252 [13981-174-Jwhich undergoes fission spontaneously, emitting on average three neutrons, and has a half-life of 2.6 yr. The second, which is effective during operation, is a capsule of antimony and beryUium. Antimony-123 [14119-16-5] is continually made radioactive by neutron... 

The Natural Reactor. Some two biUion years ago, uranium had a much higher (ca 3%) fraction of U than that of modem times (0.7%). There is a difference in half-hves of the two principal uranium isotopes, U having a half-life of 7.08 x 10 yr and U 4.43 x 10 yr. A natural reactor existed, long before the dinosaurs were extinct and before humans appeared on the earth, in the African state of Gabon, near Oklo. Conditions were favorable for a neutron chain reaction involving only uranium and water. Evidence that this process continued intermittently over thousands of years is provided by concentration measurements of fission products and plutonium isotopes. Usehil information about retention or migration of radioactive wastes can be gleaned from studies of this natural reactor and its products (12). 

Radioactivity occurs naturally in earth minerals containing uranium and thorium. It also results from two principal processes arising from bombardment of atomic nuclei by particles such as neutrons, ie, activation and fission. Activation involves the absorption of a neutron by a stable nucleus to form an unstable nucleus. An example is the neutron reaction of a neutron and cobalt-59 to yield cobalt-60 [10198 0-0] Co, a 5.26-yr half-life gamma-ray emitter. Another is the absorption of a neutron by uranium-238 [24678-82-8] to produce plutonium-239 [15117 8-5], Pu, as occurs in the fuel of a nuclear... 

Approximately 25—30% of a reactor s fuel is removed and replaced during plaimed refueling outages, which normally occur every 12 to 18 months. Spent fuel is highly radioactive because it contains by-products from nuclear fission created during reactor operation. A characteristic of these radioactive materials is that they gradually decay, losing their radioactive properties at a set rate. Each radioactive component has a different rate of decay known as its half-life, which is the time it takes for a material to lose half of its radioactivity. The radioactive components in spent nuclear fuel include cobalt-60 (5-yr half-Hfe), cesium-137 (30-yr half-Hfe), and plutonium-239 (24,400-yr half-Hfe). 

Neutron radiation is emitted in fission and generally not spontaneously, although a few heavy radionueleides, e.g. plutonium, undergo spontaneous fission. More often it results from bombarding beryllium atoms with an a-emitter. Neutron radiation deeays into protons and eleetrons with a half-life of about 12 min and is extremely penetrating. 

Because the sequence of neutron captures inevitably leads to looFrn which has a fission half-life of only a few seconds, the remaining three actinides, loiMd, 102N0 and losLr, can only be prepared by bombardment of heavy nuclei with the light atoms jHe to foNe. This raises the mass number in multiple units and allows the f Fm barrier to be avoided even so, yields are minute and are measured in terms of the number of individual atoms produced. 

The substitution on the C-atom is by contrast of great effect on the rate of hydrolysis. Table X gives the half-life values for the fission... 

Uranium in water decays to form Zn24 and Sm by fission. Uranium has a half-life of 7 X 10s years. The zinc ions complex with water and act as a weak acid according to the following equation ... 

A large neutron cross section of 235U for fission (5.8 x 10 26 m2), a high fission yield (6%) for "Tc, and a long half-life of the resulting "Tc (2.1 x 105 yr) make this radionuclide one of the principal nuclear wastes. Fig. 1 shows radioactivity of nuclear wastes plotted against cooling time in years. Tc activity is very important in the time interval 104-106 years. 

Y emits a 2.28 MeV ft particle with a half-life of 64. lh and is suitable for radiotherapy applications. 90Y is available from a 90Sr/90Y generator system. The 90Sr is produced as a fission product. 

Rh is a ft emitting radionuclide suitable for therapeutic applications. It has a 35.4-h half-life and emits 0.566 MeV and 0.248 MeV ft particles and a 319 keV gamma photon. It is a reactor-produced radionuclide that is also potentially available from the separation of fission products in... 

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