Characteristics of Dicesium Plutonium(IV) Nitrate Formation in Separation System of Uranyl Nitrate Hexahydrate Crystal

There is a concerned that Cs and Pu double salt Cs2Pu(NO3)6 is formed under certain conditions in the course of U crystallization. The influence of the Cs concentration in a feed solution on Cs2Pu(NO3)6 formation was thus examined in the U crystallization process. Cesium and Pu were decontaminated after crystal washing with a decreasing Cs concentration in the feed solution. Although Cs remained in the mother liquor at a Cs concentration of 1.0 g/dm³ in the feed solution, Cs2Pu(NO3)6 precipitated at a Cs concentration of 2.2 g/dm³. There is, therefore, a lower limit for the Cs concentration in the feed solution at which Cs2Pu(NO3)6 precipitates, and this limit falls in the range from 1.0 to 2.2 g/dm³ Cs.     

Rapid determination of Cs and precise Cs/Cs atomic ratio in environmental samples by single-column chromatography coupled to triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

For source identification, measurement of ¹³⁵Cs/¹³⁷Cs atomic ratio not only provides information apart from the detection of ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs, but it can also overcome the application limit that measurement of the ¹³⁴Cs/¹³⁷Cs ratio has due to the short half-life of ¹³⁴Cs (2.06 y). With the recent advancement of ICP-MS, it is necessary to improve the corresponding separation method for rapid and precise ¹³⁵Cs/¹³⁷Cs atomic ratio analysis. A novel separation and purification technique was developed for the new generation of triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS). The simple chemical separation, incorporating ammonium molybdophosphate selective adsorption of Cs and subsequent single cation-exchange chromatography, removes the majority of isobaric and polyatomic interference elements. Subsequently, the ICP-MS/MS removes residual interference elements and eliminates the peak tailing effect of stable ¹³³Cs, at m/z 134, 135, and 137. The developed analytical method was successfully applied to measure ¹³⁵Cs/¹³⁷Cs atomic ratios and ¹³⁵Cs activities in environmental samples (soil and sediment) for radiocesium source identification.     

Structural characterization of ammonium molybdophosphate with different amount of cesium adsorption

Powdered crystal AMP was synthesized by precipitation method and different Cs-loading AMP samples were prepared in this work. They were studied by modern methods of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to gain a better understanding of the ion exchange mechanism of ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP). The XRD patterns combined with the FT-IR analysis indicate that the Keggin structure is retained after Cs adsorption, while the changes of certain characteristic diffraction peaks show crystal lattice distortion caused by the mismatching sizes of Cs⁺ and [NH₄]⁺. The TGA showed that the weight percent of H₂O and [NH₄]⁺ decreases as the amount of Cs adsorbed onto AMP increases, which corresponds with the theory of isomorphous exchange.     

Radiological status of Rongelap Island in 1999

A radiological survey and whole body counting of ¹³⁷Cs were carried out in Rongelap Island (main island) of Rongelap Atoll in July 1999. The maximum values of ¹³⁷Cs contamination and of g-ray dose rate were 39 kBq/m² and 0.033 mSv/h, respectively. The maximum a and b gross counting rates on the surface of ground were 1 cpm and 182 cpm in active area of 72 cm², respectively. Activity of ^239,240Pu for soil was 80 Bq/kg in the top 5 cm and aerial deposition was 3.4 kBq/m² in Rongelap Island in 1999. The body burden of ¹³⁷Cs was observed to be 27±11 Bq/kg for 6 workers. Assessment of external and internal annual doses (0.1 and 0.07 mSv/y) indicates that as of 1999 there is no large risk to the inhabitants of Rongelap Island from a radiological point of view. The radiological status of Rongelap Island, which was severely contaminated by the radiological fallouts of nuclear testings carried out in 1954, has improved year by year as shown by the decrease of ¹³⁷Cs. The effective halftime of ¹³⁷Cs, which is estimated to be 6.6 y is much shorter than the physical half-life of ¹³⁷Cs. Radioactive contamination in Kaballe Island, (a part of the northern islands used for farming) which is located 25 km northeast of Rongelap Island, was still high in 1999. One site nearby a beach was highly contaminated with ¹³⁷Cs, where the maximum activity of ¹³⁷Cs was 3.4 MBq/m², a-ray of 2 cpm, b-ray of 1205 cpm and g-ray of 0.73 mSv/h. Activity of ^239,240Pu in soil (n = 1) was 294 Bq/kg (top 5 cm) and 16 kBq/m².     

Comparative study on sorption of individual and coupling cesium and selenium on mudrock

This study focused on sorption mechanism of Cs and Se in mudrock by batch techniques. Batch kinetics tests have been conducted with carriers 10^{− 4}M CsCl and SeO₂ by using individual and coupling radiotracers of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁷⁵Se. The distribution coefficients (K _d ) of Cs in synthetic groundwater (GW) and seawater (SW) showed that there is no interference between individual and coupling value (13 and 6 ml/g). Moreover, individual and coupling K _d ) (80 and 40 ml/g) of Se in GW and SW are in agreement with Cs. It is quite clear that the sorption mechanisms of Cs and Se on mudrock are independent and different by using radiotracer’s technique.     

Cs(ATZ)的制备、晶体结构与热力学性质

以5-氨基四唑(ATZ)和氢氧化铯溶液为原料, 制备了配合物Cs(ATZ)并培养出单晶, 结构由X-ray单晶衍射测定. 晶体属正交晶系, 空间群Pnma, 晶体学参数: a＝0.8114(4) nm, b＝0.6907(4) nm, c＝0.9122(5) nm, V＝0.5113(5) nm³, D_c＝2.819 g/cm³, Z＝4, F(000)＝392, m＝7.112 mm^－1, R＝0.0485. 其中Cs^＋与9个氮原子配位, 分子间通过氢键、金属离子与N原子的桥连接及分子间作用力, 形成三维结构, 增加了晶体结构的稳定性. 同时, 用红外、拉曼光谱对配合物进行了表征. 根据测得的ATZ及Cs(ATZ)在氢氧化铯溶液中的反应焓和溶解焓, 算得配合物Cs(ATZ)标准摩尔生成焓为 (－430.56±0.43) kJ•mol^－1.     

Comparison of thermal ionization mass spectrometry and Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for cesium isotope ratio measurements

In the nuclear domain, precise and accurate isotopic composition determination of elements in spent nuclear fuels is mandatory to validate neutron calculation codes and for nuclear waste disposal. The present study presents the results obtained on Cs isotope ratio by mass spectrometric measurements. Natural cesium is monoisotopic (¹³³Cs) whereas cesium in spent fuels has 4 isotopes (¹³³Cs, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁵Cs, and ¹³⁷Cs). As no standard reference material is available to evaluate the accuracy of Cs isotopic measurements, a comparison of cesium isotopic composition in spent nuclear fuels has been performed between Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) and a new method involving Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) measurements. For TIMS measurements, isotopic fractionation has been evaluated by studying the behavior of cesium isotope ratios (¹³³Cs/¹³⁷Cs and ¹³⁵Cs/¹³⁷Cs) during the analyses. For MC-ICPMS measurements, the mass bias effects have been corrected with an external mass bias correction using elements (Eu and Sb) close to cesium masses. The results obtained by the two techniques show good agreement: relative difference on ¹³³Cs/¹³⁷Cs and ¹³⁵Cs/¹³⁷Cs ratios for two nuclear samples, analyzed after chemical separation, ranges from 0.2% to 0.5% depending on the choice of reference value for mass bias correction by MC-ICPMS. Finally the quantification of the ¹³⁵Cs/²³⁸U ratio by the isotope dilution technique is presented in the case of a MOx (mixed oxide) spent fuel sample. Evaluation of the global uncertainties shows that this ratio could be defined at an uncertainty of 0.5% (k = 2). The intercomparison between two independent mass spectrometric techniques is fundamental for the evaluation of uncertainty when no isotopic standard is available.     

A complementary cesium coolant concentration ratio for localizing defective PWR fuel rods during reactor operation

Rough techniques for pinpointing defective fuel pins during actual reactor operation were developed for nuclear power plants. These techniques are based on various fission product concentration ratios. Here, a new cesium concentration ratio,¹³⁴Cs/¹³⁶Cs, was tested in combination with the more usual cesium ratio¹³⁴Cs/¹³⁷Cs. This new cesium ratio confirmed the conclusions drawn from the ratio¹³⁴Cs/¹³⁷Cs and provided some additional information on the location of the defective fuel rods. Application of this second cesium ratio improves the reliability of the rough localization method.     

Determination of131I,134Cs,137Cs in plants and cheese after Chernobyl accident in Roumania

Various samples from the south-east region of Roumania/greens, fodder, cheese/were analyzed for¹³¹I,¹³⁴Cs and¹³⁷Cs concentrations in May and July 1986 by -ray spectrometry. The concentrations are reported in nCi. kg^–1 wet weight. For greens, a considerable decrease was observed for¹³¹I/to 3.0–7.0 nCi. kg^–1/,¹³⁴Cs/to 0.5–2.0 nCi.kg^–1/ and¹³⁷Cs /to 1.0–4.0 nCi. kg^–1/ from the first half /5–15 May/ till the end of May 1986. For cheese, maximum values were measured between 5 and 15 May /sheep cottage cheese: 500–800 nCi.kg^–1 for¹³¹I, 25–50 nCi. kg^–1 for¹³⁴Cs, 40–80 nCi. kg^–1 for¹³⁷Cs/; at the beginning of July a considerable decrease /to 5–10 nCi. kg^–1 for¹³¹I, 1.2–2.0 nCi.kg^–1 for¹³⁴Cs, 2.2–3.0 nCi. kg^–1 for¹³⁷Cs/ was observed. In autumn 1986 a small increase up to 2.0–3.0 nCi. kg^–1 for¹³⁴Cs and 3.4–5.0 nCi. kg^–1 for¹³⁷Cs /in November/ was reported. The population's internal possible contamination was strongly limited by the authorities' severe control of the food-stuff.     

Determination of 135Cs in nuclear power plant wastes by ICP-MS and k 0-NAA

A radiochemical method for the determination of ¹³⁵Cs in radioactive wastes has been adopted/developed. For the separation of cesium from other elements ammonium-molybdophosphate precipitation and cation exchange chromatography were used. The chemical yield of the method was about 60–100 %. ¹³⁵Cs was measured by two methods. In neutron activation analysis (NAA), Cs was irradiated with reactor neutrons. ¹³⁶Cs was detected by gamma spectrometry, wherefrom the activity/mass of ¹³⁵Cs was calculated according to the k ₀-standardization technique. The Cs containing fractions were measured by inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry, as well. NAA and ICP-MS techniques were comparatively evaluated and a good agreement between the results was found. The activity concentration of ¹³⁵Cs in a couple of waste samples originating from VVER-440 type nuclear reactors was in the range of 1–5 Bq L^?1 (20–120 ng L^?1) while ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations varied between 0.1 and 1 MBq L^?1.     

Rapid and sensitive determination of radiocesium (Cs-135, Cs-137) in the presence of excess barium by electrothermal vaporization-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ETV-ICP-MS) with potassium thiocyanate as modifier

An electrothermal vaporization-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric (ETV-ICP-MS) method based on selective volatilization of cesium with KSCN as modifier has been developed for determination of radiocesium, i.e. ¹³⁵Cs and ¹³⁷Cs, in the presence of isobaric barium. A 10000 times excess of barium, which was volatilized at a temperature of 1100?°C, resulted only in a 1% signal increase in the signal of mass 135 amu. The recommended concentration of KSCN is 0.3 mM, and pretreatment and volatilization temperatures are 400?°C and 1100?°C, respectively. A ramp time of 1 s is recommeded for the volatilization step. The achieved limit of detection for ¹³⁵Cs is 0.2 pg/mL (10 μBq/mL) and 4 fg (0.2 μBq) absolute for a sample volume of 20 μL. This means a limit of detection for ¹³⁷Cs of 0.2 pg/mL (0.6 Bq/mL) and of 4 fg (0.01 Bq) absolute. Signal variations of ¹³⁵Cs and ¹³⁷Cs, respectively, in spiked samples with various matrices were investigated.     

Perspectives of laser-chemical isotope separation of a long-lived fission product: cesium-135

The cesium isotope ¹³⁵Cs has an extremely long half-life (τ_1/2 = 2.3 · 10⁶ y) and its high water solubility leads to the anxiety of exudation to ground water during geological disposal. Such a LLFP ¹³⁵Cs would be converted into ¹³⁶Cs (Its half-life is 13.16 d and it becomes stable ¹³⁶Ba) by neutron capture reaction. However intermingling ¹³³Cs of which the natural abundance is 100% disturbs this nuclear converting reaction because ¹³³Cs also absorbs neutrons and produces ¹³⁵Cs again. For separating ¹³⁵Cs from other cesium isotopes, laser-chemical isotope separation (LCIS) is believed to be suitable mainly due to the light absorption and emission stability. Isotope separation of alkali metal ⁸⁵Rb/⁸⁷Rb was successfully achieved, showed 23.9 of head separation factor by LCIS. The measured isotope shift of Cs D₂ line is within the reach of available semiconductor lasers having emission line width of less than 1 MHz, which shows that the selective excitation of ¹³⁵Cs may turn to be possible. It is known that cesium excited to the 6²P_3/2 state may forms cesium hydride while ground-state cesium does not. Therefore if the lifetime of 6²P_3/2 state is sufficiently longer than the inverse rate of the chemical reaction, ¹³⁵Cs can be extracted as cesium hydride. Applicability of the Doppler-free two-photon absorption method for selective excitation and further evaluation on Rydberg states and ionization should be investigated.     

Specificity of Lichen Species in Respect to 137Cs Binding

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the significance of species specificity on the efficiency of ¹³⁷Cs isolation from lichens. It was shown that a 5% solution of both ammonium oxalate and phosphoric acid was able to solubilize 77.5% of ¹³⁷Cs from Cetraria islandica, 47.6% from Cladonia fimbriata and 46.4% from Usnea barbata. Since the tested lichen species had similar specific radioactivities (i.e. amount of ¹³⁷Cs) the difference could be explained by the existence of different types of bonds between radiocesium and the corresponding binding sites. Crystals precipitated from these extracts incorporated most of the soluble ¹³⁷Cs. The amount and specific radioactivity of the crystals varied between lichen species which could also be interpreted as the presence of specific ions in each lichen that either participated in crystal formation or inhibited the process. The potential of a tested solution to extract and “concentrate” ¹³⁷Cs in crystalline form may be a tool to correlate mass and radioactivity of ¹³⁷Cs.     

A study of the NMR relaxation mechanisms of ABCl3 (A=Rb, Cs, B=Cd, Mn) single crystals with the electric quadrupole and the electric magnetic types

The ⁸⁷Rb and ¹³³Cs spin-lattice relaxation rates of RbCdCl₃ and CsCdCl₃ single crystals grown using the slow evaporation method were measured over the temperature range 160-400 K. The changes in the ⁸⁷Rb spin-lattice relaxation rate near 340, 363, and 395 K correspond to phase transitions of the RbCdCl₃ crystal. The jump in T₁⁻¹ at 395 K is due to a shortening in the c-direction as a result of a phase transition from a cubic to a tetragonal structure. We suggest that the cubic Rb environment is favored above 395 K due to the fast motions and soft modes, which cause relaxation and average out the quadrupolar splittings. The temperature dependence of the relaxation rate below 340 K in RbCdCl₃ can be represented by and is thus in accordance with a Raman process. The ¹³³Cs nuclei in the CsCdCl₃ crystal produce only one resonance line, which indicates that the local structure around the Cs atoms is cubic. The temperature dependence of the relaxation rate of the Cs nuclei can also be described with the quadratic equation . In the case of the RbCdCl₃ and CsCdCl₃ crystals, which are of electric quadrupolar type, their relaxations proceed via Raman processes, whereas in RbMnCl₃ and CsMnCl₃ crystals, which are of magnetic relaxation type, the relaxations proceed via single phonon processes. Therefore, the relaxation mechanisms of these different types of ABCl₃ crystals (quadrupolar and magnetic) are completely different NMR behavior.     

Improvement of <Superscript>137</Superscript>Cs analysis in small volume seawater samples using the Ogoya underground facility

¹³⁷Cs in seawater is one of the most powerful tracers of water motion. Large volumes of samples have been required for determination of ¹³⁷Cs in seawater. This paper describes improvement of separation and purification processes of ¹³⁷Cs in seawater, which includes purification of ¹³⁷Cs using hexachloroplatinic acid in addition to ammonium phosphomolybdate (AMP) precipitation. As a result, we succeeded the ¹³⁷Cs determination in seawater with a smaller sample volume of 10 liter by using ultra-low background gamma-spectrometry in the Ogoya underground facility. ¹³⁷Cs detection limit was about 0.1 mBq (counting time: 10⁶ s). This method is applied to determine ¹³⁷Cs in small samples of the South Pacific deep waters.     

Thermodynamics of cesium complexes formation with 18-crown-6 in ionic liquids

Thermodynamic data for cesium complexes formation with 18-crown-6 (18C6, L) [Cs(18C6)]⁺ in N-butyl-4-methyl-pyridinium tetrafluoroborate ([BMPy][BF₄], I), in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM][BF₄], II) and in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([BMIM][N(CN)₂], III) were measured with NMR ¹³³Cs technique at 23–50 °C. The stability of cesium complex in RTILs is estimated to be in the range between water and DMFA. Stability constants for [Cs(18C6)]⁺ are found to decrease as temperature is increasing. The following values for lgK(Cs+L) and ΔH(Cs+L) at 23 °C are determined: 2.6 (0.3), ?47(1) kJ/mol (RTIL I); 2.8(0.3), ?80(3) kJ/mol (RTIL II) and 3.03 (0.08), ?47(2) kJ/mol (RTIL III). It is demonstrated that enthalpy change promotes complex formation while the corresponding change of entropy is negative and provides decomposition of [Cs(18C6)]⁺.     

Low level detection of <Superscript>135</Superscript>Cs and <Superscript>137</Superscript>Cs in environmental samples by ICP-MS

The measurement of fission product cesium isotopes ¹³⁵Cs and ¹³⁷Cs at low femtogram (fg) 10⁻¹⁵ levels in ground water by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is reported. To eliminate the natural barium isobaric interference on the cesium isotopes, in-line chromatographic separation of the cesium from barium was performed followed by high sensitivity ICP-MS analysis. A high efficiency desolvating nebulizer system was employed to maximize ICP-MS sensitivity ~10 cps/fg. The three sigma detection limit for ¹³⁵Cs was 2 fg/mL (0.1 μBq/mL) and for ¹³⁷Cs 0.9 fg/mL (0.0027 Bq/mL) measured from the standard with analysis time of less than 30 min/sample. Cesium detection and 135/137 isotope ratio measurement at very low femtogram levels using this method in a spiked ground water matrix is also demonstrated.     

Determination of135Cs in sodium from an in-pile loop by activation analysis

Several months after shut-down,¹³⁷Cs and¹³⁴Cs were the main activities in coolant residues from an in-pile sodium loop where a fuel pin had failed at 40000 MWd/t burn-up, FR2-reirradiation of coolant residues increased¹³⁴Cs and generated¹³⁶Cs, thus indicating the presence of stable¹³³Cs and of long-lived¹³⁵Cs in the samples. The amount of¹³⁵Cs calculated from¹³⁶Cs activities was of the same quantity as the number of¹³⁷Cs atoms.     

Simultaneous determination of some long-lived semivolatile radionuclides in environmental samples

A radiochemical method is presented to determine simultaneously the long-lived semivolatile radionuclides⁷⁹Se,⁹⁹Tc,¹⁰⁶Ru,¹²⁵Sb,^125mTe,^127mTe,¹³⁴Cs and¹³⁷Cs in environmental samples. The pure -emitters⁷⁹Se and⁹⁹Tc are counted in a low-level gas flow counter, the -emitters in a -spectrometer with a high purity well-type Ge detector. The procedure was tested using environmental samples with known concentrations of⁹⁹Tc,¹⁰⁶Ru,¹²⁵Sb,¹³⁴Cs and¹³⁷Cs.     

The Influence of the Specific Surface Area of the Carbon Support on the Activity of Ruthenium Catalysts for the Ammonia-Decomposition Reaction

A method for fractionation of the starting carbon composite Sibunit by density was used to obtain three samples of Sibunit with different values of the specific surface area: Sib10 at 439 m²/g, Sib13 at 389 m²/g, and Sib17 at 256 m²/g. Investigation of Sibunits using both methods, that is, X-ray diffraction analysis and combination (Raman) scattering spectroscopy, did not reveal significant differences (the parameters of the crystal lattice and the I_D/I_G ratio). The fractionated supports were used to obtain Ru-containing catalysts for ammonia decomposition reaction (0.1 MPa, 400°C). The dependence of the specific catalytic activity calculated per 1 m² of the support specific surface a for catalysts of the same composition (4.0% Ru and 13.6% Cs) has an extreme form. The authors connect this with two factors: the blocking support pores contain an active component and a change in features of ruthenium interactions with the promoter (Cs) of the catalyst.