Radioactive species

Few of the naturally occurring elements have significant amounts of radioactive isotopes, but there are many artificially produced radioactive species. Mass spectrometry can measure both radioactive and nonradioactive isotope ratios, but there are health and safety issues for the radioactive ones. However, modem isotope instmments are becoming so sensitive that only very small amounts of sample are needed. Where radioactive isotopes are a serious issue, the radioactive hazards can be minimized by using special inlet systems and ion pumps in place of rotary pumps for maintaining a vacuum. For example, mass spectrometry is now used in the analysis of Pu/ Pu ratios. 

Analyses and experimental results used to assess the consequences of a severe potential accident have resulted in substantially reduced estimates of severe accident consequences. Comparing estimates made by the U.S. Atomic Energy Agency (27) in 1977 with those reported by the U.S. NRC (18,28) in 1990 shows that improved knowledge and plant modifications have reduced the cote damage frequency by a factor of 3—15, depending on reactor type. Additionally, the fractions of radioactive species that would be released are lower by a factor of 10—100,000, depending on the radioactive species. 

The primary issue is to prevent groundwater from becoming radioactively contaminated. Thus, the property of concern of the long-lived radioactive species is their solubility in water. The long-lived actinides such as plutonium are metallic and insoluble even if water were to penetrate into the repository. Certain fission-product isotopes such as iodine-129 and technicium-99 are soluble, however, and therefore represent the principal although very low level hazard. Studies of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, tentatively chosen as the site for the spent fuel and high level waste repository, are underway (44). 

A multistep synthesis is strategically designed such that the labeled species is introduced as close to the last synthetic step as possible in order to minimize yield losses and cost. Use of indirect reaction sequences frequently maximizes the yield of the radioactive species at the expense of time and labor. 

The same chemical separation research was done on thorium ores, leading to the discovery of a completely different set of radioactivities. Although the chemists made fundamental distinctions among the radioactivities based on chemical properties, it was often simpler to distinguish the radiation by the rate at which the radioactivity decayed. For uranium and thorium the level of radioactivity was independent of time. For most of the radioactivities separated from these elements, however, the activity showed an observable decrease with time and it was found that the rate of decrease was characteristic of each radioactive species. Each species had a unique half-life, ie, the time during which the activity was reduced to half of its initial value. 

Very early in the study of radioactivity it was deterrnined that different isotopes had different X values. Because the laws of gravity and electromagnetism were deterministic, an initial concept was that when each radioactive atom was created, its lifetime was deterrnined, but that different atoms were created having different lifetimes. Furthermore, these different lifetimes were created such that a collection of nuclei decayed in the observed manner. Later, as the probabiUstic properties of quantum mechanics came to be accepted, it was recognised that each nucleus of a given radioactive species had the same probabiUty for decay per unit time and that the randomness of the decays led to the observed decay pattern. 

The first step is to immerse the fuel elements in large cooling ponds of water for a hundred days or so, during which time the short-lived, intensely radioactive species such as 53 (ti = 8.04 days) lose most of their activity and the generation of heat subsides. 

Most smoke alarms (Figure 19.1, p. 517) use a radioactive species, typically americium-241. A tiny amount of this isotope is placed in a small ionization chamber decay of Am-241 ionizes air molecules within the chamber. Under the influence of a potential applied by a battery, these ions move across the chamber, producing an electric current. If smoke particles get into... 

Another potential application of radioactive species is in food preservation (Figure 19.2, p. 518). It is well known that gamma rays can kill insects, larvae, and parasites such as... 

This leads to the expression for the radioactive species [A R]/[Rtot] (denoted as p ) ... 

It is fruitless to attempt detailed study of a phenomenon whose products are not well identified. It is unfortunately frequently noted in the literature, especially in cases of column chromatography, that fractions are only identified as to the chemical operations which brought them to light. Fractions are identified, for example, only by the solvent used. Speculations as to the composition of the radioactive solutes in such solutions can seldom be really reliable, and the presence of an unexpected radioactive species is in such cases undetectable. It is also important in reading the literature to watch out for cases in which the chemical yields of the carriers have not been measured. Extensive decomposition can often occur on silica gel and alumina columns, especially when photosensitive or moisture sensitive compounds are used. For these reasons much of the information now existing in the literature must be regarded as only exploratory, awaiting the development of better analytical methods for separation, purification, identification and determination of the products —known or expected. 

A series of studies on CpMn(CO)j and related compounds showed similarly that -Mn(CO)5 compounds are formed in substantial yield. The yield of MnCp2 could not be assessed properly inasmuch as the carrier seems to exchange rapidly with some radioactive species not containing cyclopentadiene 80). The data for various manganese-containing compounds are summarized in Table VII. In addition to those compounds reported in the table, two other, as yet unidentified, radioactive compounds were found in neutron-irradiated CpMn(CO)3 20). 

The only respect in which the hot atom chemistry of organometallic compounds has so far been applied to other fields of study is in the area of isotope enrichment. Much of this has been done for isolation of radioactive nuclides from other radioactive species for the purpose of nuclear chemical study, or for the preparation of high specific activity radioactive tracers. Some examples of these applications have been given in Table II. The most serious difficulty with preparation of carrier-free tracers by this method is that of radiolysis of the target compound, which can be severe under conditions suited to commercial isotope production, so that the radiolysis products dilute the enriched isotopes. A balance can be struck in some cases, however, between high yield and high specific activity (19, 7J),... 

The half-life of a radioactive species is defined as the time it takes for the activity of the sample to drop by 50%. In this activity, you will investigate the decay of 137Bam, a metastable isotope of barium that undergoes gamma decay with a half-life of several minutes. 

SPA is based on bringing a radioactive species in close proximity to a bead of solid scintillant. The technique relies on the specific capture of the substrate or product onto the bead so that the radioactivity can be measured without the need for separation. 

Radioactive cosmochronology Table 10.1. Some radioactive species... 

For the radioactive species, the mass balance equation contains a radioactive decay term... 

Ab initio quantum chemistry has advanced so far in the last 40 years that it now allows the study of molecular systems containing any atom in the Periodic Table. Transition metal and actinide compounds can be treated routinely, provided that electron correlation1 and relativistic effects2 are properly taken into account. Computational quantum chemical methods can be employed in combination with experiment, to predict a priori, to confirm, or eventually, to refine experimental results. These methods can also predict the existence of new species, which may eventually be made by experimentalists. This latter use of computational quantum chemistry is especially important when one considers experiments that are not easy to handle in a laboratory, as, for example, explosive or radioactive species. It is clear that a good understanding of the chemistry of such species can be useful in several areas of scientific and technological exploration. Quantum chemistry can model molecular properties and transformations, and in... 

Chemical sensors that can be used to identify potential threats to process water and industrial wastewater systems include inorganic monitors (e.g., chlorine analyzer), organic monitors (e.g., total organic carbon analyzer), and toxicity meters. Radiological meters can be used to measure concentrations of several different radioactive species. 

In the meantime, E. Rutherford (NLC 1908 ) studied the radioactivity discovered by Becquerel and the Curies. He determined that the emanations of radioactive materials include alpha particles (or rays) which are positively charged helium atoms, beta particles (or rays) which are negatively charged electrons, and gamma rays which are similar to x-rays. He also studied the radioactive decay process and deduced the first order rate law for the disappearance of a radioactive atom, characterized by the half-life, the time in which 50% of a given radioactive species disappears, and which is independent of the concentration of that species. 

Isotopes can be divided into two fundamental kinds, stable and unstable (radioactive) species. The number of stable isotopes is about 300 whilst over 1,200 unstable ones have been discovered so far. The term stable is relative, depending on the detection limits of radioactive decay times, hi the range of atomic numbers from 1 (H) to 83 (Bi), stable nuclides of all masses except 5 and 8 are known. Only 21 elements are pure elements, in the sense that they have only one stable isotope. AU other elements are mixtures of at least two isotopes. The relative abundance of different isotopes of an element may vary substantially. In copper, for example, Cu accounts for 69% and Cu for 31% of all copper nuclei. For the light elements, however, one isotope is predominant, the others being present only in trace amounts. 

Water containing a short-lived radioactive species flows continuously through a well-mixed holdup tank. This gives time for the radioactive material to decay into harmless waste. As it now operates, the activity of the exit stream is 1/7 of the feed stream. This is not bad, but we d like to lower it still more. 

Radiolysis of water is, at least for today, inherently limited due to the use of radioactive materials by which the product stream could be contaminated by radioactive species. Consequently while... 

In 1899, Andre Debierne added ammonium hydroxide to a solution of the U mineral pitchblende. When the lanthanoids precipitated as the hydroxides, a radioactive species was carried along. This element, which was a product of the radioactive decay of U-235 was named actinium. The species was Ac-227 (half life 21.77 years)... 

Ac, actinium, was initially identified in 1899 by Andr6-Louis Debierne, a French chemist, who separated it from pitchblende. He dissolved the mineral in acid, then added NH4OH, and found that a radioactive species was carried down with the rare earth hydroxides. He named the element actinium after the Greek aktinos which means ray. Because of its low abundance in U, the element is usually not obtained by isolation from U. It can be obtained in mlligram amounts by irradiation of Ra-226 in a nuclear reactor. The preparation of Ac metal involves reduction of AcFs by Li at high temperature. 

All impactor and filter samples were analyzed for up to 45 elements by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) as described by Heft ( ). Samples were irradiated simultaneously with standard flux monitors in the 3-MW Livermore pool reactor. The x-ray spectra of the radioactive species were taken with large-volume, high-resolution Ge(Li) spectrometer systems. The spectral data were transferred to a GDC 7600 computer and analyzed with the GAMANAL code (1 ), which incorporates a background-smoothing routine and fits the peaks with Gaussian and exponential functions. 

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