Primary result of ~(236)U measurement with accelerator mass spectrometry at CIAE

The rare isotope 236U has a half-life of 2.342(3)×107 years,and is produced principally by thermal neutron capture on 235U.The isotopic atom ratio of 236U/238U depends on the integral thermal neutron flux received by the material of interest.236U is potentially useful as a "fingerprint" for indicating the presence of neutron-irradiated uranium usually originating from nuclear activity.By extracting negative molecular ion UO- from the uranium oxide target,simulating the 236U16O- beam transport with 238U16O- and 208Pb12 6O- pilot molecular ion beam,transporting the 236U-containing ion beam with a high resolution injection magnet analyzer and electrostatic analyzer system,and finally identifying and detecting 236U with a time-of-flight detector(TOF),a method for AMS(Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) measurement of 236U was established on the HI-13 Accelerator AMS system at China Institute of Atomic Energy.     

Primary result of ~(236)U measurement with accelerator mass spectrometry at CIAE

The rare isotope 236U has a half-life of 2.342(3)×107 years,and is produced principally by thermal neutron capture on 235U.The isotopic atom ratio of 236U/238U depends on the integral thermal neutron flux received by the material of interest.236U is potentially useful as a fingerprint for indicating the presence of neutron-irradiated uranium usually originating from nuclear activity.By extracting negative molecular ion UO- from the uranium oxide target,simulating the 236U16O- beam transport with 238U16O- an...     

Primary result of ^236U measurement with accelerator mass spectrometry at CIAE

The rare isotope ^236U has a half-life of 2.342（3）×107 years, and is produced principally by thermal neutron capture on ^235U. The isotopic atom ratio of ^236U/^238U depends on the integral thermal neutron flux received by the material of interest. ^236U is potentially useful as a ＂fingerprint＂ for indicating the presence of neutron-irradiated uranium usually originating from nuclear activity. By extracting negative molecular ion UO^- from the uranium oxide target, simulating the ^236U^16O^- beam transport with ^238U^16O^- and ^208Pb2^16O^- pilot molecular ion beam, transporting the ^236U-containing ion beam with a high resolution injection magnet analyzer and electrostatic analyzer system, and finally identifying and detecting ^236U with a time-of-flight detector （TOF）, a method for AMS （Accelerator Mass Spectrometry） measurement of ^236U was established on the HI-13 Accelerator AMS system at China Institute of Atomic Energy.     

加速器质谱在核科学研究中的应用进展

加速器质谱(AMS) 由于其极高的测量灵敏度而广泛应用于核科学、生命科学、地球科学、环境科学和考古学等研究领域,同时,AMS还可以用来分析样品中的微量核素,是核科学领域的重要研究工具。目前,AMS研究的最新领域是U和Pu 等锕系元素的测量,在核保障、核监测及核试验沉降物示踪大气输运和表面沉积物的迁移等研究中也显示出了较大潜力。综述了AMS在核科学研究中的应用及研究现状,主要包括AMS在放射性核素半衰期的测定、核反应截面的测量等方面的研究进展。Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a promising method to provide extreme sensitivity measurements of the production yields of long-lived radioisotopes, which cannot be detected by other methods. AMS technique plays an important role in the research of nuclear physics, as well as the application field of AMS covered nuclear science and technology, life science, earth science, environmental science, archaeology etc. The newest AMS field is that of actinide, particularly U and Pu, isotopic assay with expanding applications in nuclear safeguards and monitoring, and as a modern bomb-fallout tracer for atmospheric transport and surface sediment movement. This paper reviews the applications of AMS in the research of nuclear energy and nuclear security including the research of half life of radionuclides, cross section of nuclear reaction.     

Beam transport design for a 1 MeV prototype dielectric wall accelerator

The beam transport design of a novel proton dielectric wall accelerator is introduced in this paper. The protons will be accelerated from 40 keV to nearly 1 MeV under an accelerating gradient that is as high as 20 MV/m. A consideration of the beam line as well as the transport simulation is presented. The influences of the injection timing jitter and the accelerating pulse timing jitter are also discussed.     

Beam transport design for a 1 MeV prototype dielectric wall accelerator

The beam transport design of a novel proton dielectric wall accelerator is introduced in this paper. The protons will be accelerated from 40 keV to nearly 1 MeV under an accelerating gradient that is as high as 20 MV/m. A consideration of the beam line as well as the transport simulation is presented. The influences of the injection timing jitter and the accelerating pulse timing jitter are also discussed.     

Measurement of the half-life of ~(79)Se with accelerator mass spectrometry

The accelerator mass spectrometry(AMS) is an effective method for the determination of the half-life of long-lived radionuclides. In this paper, we report a method for measurement of the half-life of79 Se. The number of79 Se atoms was determined from measured79Se/Se absolute ratios with the AMS system at the China Institute of Atomic Energy and the decay rate of79 Se was determined by counting the emitted β-rays with a liquid scintillation spectrometer. The major improvements of our measurements include using the high abundance of an79 Se sample which was cooled for many years to exclude the interference of short-lived nuclides, the extraction of SeO-2molecular ions, that results in a suppression of the79 Br background by as much as about five orders of magnitude. Also, an AMS measurement of the absolute ratio of79Se/Se was developed to avoid systematic errors. The results show that79Se/Se is(2.35±0.12)×10-7in the reference sample and the radioactivity of79 Se is(1.24±0.05) Bq/g, so the half-life of79 Se is(2.78±0.18)×105a.     

Progress in p-shell Λ hypernuclear spectroscopy

The strangeness nuclear physics is an important branch of nuclear physics. The spectroscopic study of A hypernuclei has been used as a tool for investigating the A-N interaction as well as probing the nuclear interior structure. In this paper some high-lights and open questions in the spectroscopic study of p-shell h hypernuclei are presented.     

A modified explanation of cold nuclear matter effects on J/ψ production in p+A collisions

A modified explanation of the cold nuclear matter(CNM) effects on J/ψ production in p+A collisions is presented in this paper.The advantage of the modified explanation is that all the CNM effects implemented in this model have clear physical origins and are mostly centered on the idea of multiple parton scattering.With the CNM effects presented in this paper, we calculated the nuclear modification factor Rp A in J/ψ production under different collision energies.The results are compared with the corresponding experiment data and the factors calculated with classic nuclear effects.The factors calculated with CNM effects presented in this paper can accurately reproduce almost all existing J/ψ measurements in p-A collisions, which is much better than results obtained with the factors calculated with classic nuclear effects.The new model is therefore a more suitable approach to explain CNM effects in the hardproduction of quarkonium.     

Axial electric wake field inside the induction gap exited by the intense electron beam

While an intense electron beam passes through the accelerating gaps of a linear induction accelerator, a strong wake field will be excited. In this paper a relatively simple model is established based on the interaction between the transverse magnetic wake field and the electron beam, and the numerical calculation in succession generates a magnetic wake field distribution along the accelerator and along the beam pulse as well. The axial electric wake field is derived based on the relation between field components of a resonant mode. According to some principles in existence, the influence of this field on the high voltage properties of the induction gap is analyzed. The Dragon-I accelerator is taken as an example, and its maximum electric wake field is about 17 kV/cm, which means the effect of the wake field is noticeable.     

238U(n,f)短寿命产物核累积产额的评价(英文)

为满足堆内或核爆中链式反应过程的燃耗值的计算需要，对裂变谱中子和14MeV中子诱发238U裂变的短寿命产物核的累积产额进行了评价。评价利用了所有可利用的实验数据， 经物理分析后， 使用AVERAGE程序加权平均， 用ZOTT程序进行同时评价， 给出了所要求能点的唯一最佳推荐数据， 并将评价结果与ENDF/B-VII， JEF-2.2， JENDL-3.2和CENDL-2的推荐数据进行了比较。 评价结果将用于CENDL-2的更新与升级。For reliable and consistent nuclear calculation, the cumulative yields for short lived fission products are evaluated based on the available experimental data for 238U fission induced by fission spectrum neutrons and ~14 MeV neutrons. The data are processed using codes AVERAGE for weighed average and ZOOT for simultaneous evaluation. The evaluated data are compared with those in the major international nuclear data libraries, including ENDF/B-VII, JEF-2.2, JENDL-3.2 and CENDL-2. The present evaluation will be used to improve and update the CENDL-2 library.     

加速器质谱测量182Hf的效率研究

182Hf是长寿命放射性核素,其半衰期约为9×106 a. 测量环境样品中的182Hf对核天体物理学和核工程的研究具有重要的意义. 加速器质谱(AMS)作为一门超高灵敏核分析技术,可以测量样品中极其微量的182 Hf. 本工作在中国原子能科学研究院HI 13串列加速器核物理国家实验室的AMS装置上对182 Hf的AMS效率进行了测量,得到了初步的测量结果.     

Determination of the number of atoms of the long-lived nuclide ~(126)Sn by γ-ray spectrometry

By using HPGe γ-ray spectrometry, the activity of the long-lived fission product 126Sn in a SnOB2 sample was measured. The number of 126Sn atoms and the ratio of 126Sn to Sn were calculated based on the half-life value of 2.35×105a and the chemical stoichiometry. The result of the ratio of 126Sn to Sn, (1.033±0.037)×10-8, is consistent with the results measured by the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) within uncertainty limits, which confirms our procedures in the measurement of 126Sn by AMS and lays a foundation for the AMS measurement of 126Sn at much lower levels.     

Measurement of uranium and its isotopes at trace levels in environmental samples using mass spectrometry

Actinides have widely entered the environment as a result of nuclear accidents and atmospheric weapon testing. These radionuclides, especially uranium, are outstanding radioactive pollutants, due to their high radiotoxicity and long half-lives. In addition to this, since depleted uranium (DU) has been used in the Balkan conflict in 1999, there has been a concern about the possible consequences of its use for the people and environment. Therefore, accurate, precise and simple determination methods are necessary in order to evaluate the human dose and the concentration and effects of these nuclides in the environment. The principal isotopes of uranium e.g. ²³⁵U and ²³⁸U are of primordial origin and ²³⁴U present in radioactive equilibrium with ²³⁸U. ²³⁶U occurs in nature at ultra trace concentrations with a ²³⁶U: ²³⁸U atom ratio of 10⁻¹⁴. Concentrations of uranium in soil samples were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and isotope ratios of uranium were measured using a thermal ionisation mass spectrometer. Radioactive dis-equilibrium of ²³⁴/²³⁸U, depletion of ²³⁵/²³⁸U and significant evidence of ²³⁶U/²³⁸U were noticed in soil samples.      

Multi-modal analysis for low energy neutron-induced fission of ~(235)U

Low energy neutron induced fission of ~(235)U is studied in the framework of the multi-modal fission model. The fission fragment properties, such as the yields, the average total kinetic energy distribution and the average neutron separation energy, are investigated for incident neutron energies from thermal to 6.0 MeV. The multi-modal fission approach is also used to evaluate the prompt fission neutron multiplicity and spectra for the neutron-induced fission of ~(235)U with an improved version of the Los Alamos model for incident neutrons below the (n, nf) threshold. The three most dominant fission modes are taken into account. The model parameters are determined on the basis of experimental data. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

26Al的加速器质谱测量及其应用

26Al是一个在多个学科都非常有意义的放射性核素。主要介绍了国内外在利用加速器质谱技术测量26Al时所开展的各种测量方法、各自的优缺点和测量灵敏度，并介绍了目前利用^26Al在地球科学、生物医学、核物理以及天体物理等诸多方面的应用研究工作。     

Accelerator mass spectrometry of the heaviest long-lived radionuclides with a 3-MV tandem accelerator

A 3-MV pelletron tandem accelerator is the heart of the Vienna environmental research accelerator (VERA). The original design of the beam transport components allows the transport of ions of all elements, from the lightest to the heaviest. For light ions the suppression of neighboring masses was sufficient to measure isotopic ratios of ¹⁴C/¹²C and ²⁶Al/²⁷Al as low as 10⁻¹⁵ and ¹⁰Be/⁹Be down to 10⁻¹³. To suppress neighboring masses for the heaviest radionuclides in the energy range of 10–20 MeV, the resolution of VERA was increased both by improving the ion optics of existing elements at the injection side and by installing a new high-resolution electrostatic separator at the high-energy side. Interfering ions which pass all beam filters are identified with a Bragg-type ionization detector and a high-resolution time-of-flight system. Two ultra-thin diamond-like carbon (DLC) foils are used in the start and stop detector, which substantially reduces losses due to beam straggling. This improved set up enables us to measure even the heaviest long-lived radionuclides, where stable isobaric interferences are absent (e.g. ²³⁶U and ²⁴⁴Pu), down to environmental levels. Moreover, the advantage of a ‘small’ and well manageable machine like VERA lies in its higher stability and reliability which allows to measure these heavy radionuclides more accurately, and also a large number of samples.     

Calculation of prompt fission neutron spectrum for 233U（n,f）reaction by the semi-empirical method~

The prompt fission neutron spectra for the neutron-induced fission of ²³³U for low energy neutrons (below 6 MeV) are calculated using nuclear evaporation theory with a semi-empirical method, in which the partition of the total excitation energy between the fission fragments for the n_th+²³³U fission reactions is determined by the available experimental and evaluation data. The calculated prompt fission neutron spectra agree well with the experimental data. The proportions of high-energy neutrons of prompt fission neutron spectrum versus incident neutron energies are investigated with the theoretical spectra, and the results are consistent with the systematics. The semi-empirical method could be a useful tool for the prompt evaluation of fission neutron spectra.