Survey of the teaching and applications in radiochemistry in Latin American countries

Summary Missouri University, a recipient of a U.S. Department of Energy Radiochemistry Education Award Program (REAP) grant in 1999, has significantly expanded its education and research mission in radiochemistry. While MU had a viable radiochemistry program through existing faculty expertise and the utilization of the Missouri University Research Reactor, the REAP award allowed MU to leverage its resources in significantly expanding capabilities in radiochemistry. Specifically, the grant enabled the: (1) hiring of a new faculty member in actinide radiochemistry (Dr. Paul Duval); (2) support of six graduate students in radiochemistry; (3) purchase of new radiochemistry laboratory equipment; (4) more extensive collaboration with DOE scientists through interactions with faculty and graduate students, and (5) revised radiochemical curriculum (joint courses across disciplines and new courses in actinide chemistry). The most significant impact of this award has been in encouraging interdisciplinary education and research. The proposal was initiated by a joint effort between Nuclear Engineering and Chemistry, but also included faculty in biochemistry, radiology, and molecular biology. Specific outcomes of the REAP grant thus far are: (1) increased educational and research capabilities in actinide chemistry (faculty hire and equipment acquisition); (2) increased integration of biochemistry and radiochemistry (e.g., radiochemical analysis of uranium speciation in biological systems); (3) stronger interdisciplinary integration of molecular biology and radiochemical sciences (alpha-emitters for treating cancer); (4) new and more extensive interactions with national laboratory facilities (e.g., student internships at LANL and LLBL, faculty and lab scientist exchange visits, analytical measurements and collaboration with the Advanced Photon Source), and (7) new research funding opportunities based on REAP partnership.     

A web-based course in nuclear and radiochemistry

Over the last six years through a Department of Energy Radiochemistry Education Award Program (REAP) we have developed a completely web-based course in nuclear and radiochemistry given at the University of Texas at Austin. This course has had nuclear and radiation engineering and chemistry graduate students. While the course also has an extensive laboratory component only the lectures are web based. The lectures begin with a historical introduction of radiochemistry followed by two movies on Madame Curie. This is followed by the usual lectures on radioactivity, fundamental properties, radioactive decay, decay modes, and nuclear reactions. As section on radioactive waste management and nuclear fuel cycle is also presented. Lectures in neutron activation analysis, geo- and cosmochemistry, and plutonium chemistry have also been developed. All lectures are in power point with many animations and a significant number of solved problems. All students are required to make a short oral presentation on some aspect of nuclear and radiochemistry in their research or a chosen topic.     

Undergraduate research opportunities in neutron activation analysis for local,regional and international students

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) remains an excellent technique to introduce undergraduate students to nuclear science and engineering coming from different academic areas. The NAA methods encompass an appreciation of basic reactor engineering concepts, radiation safety, nuclear instrumentation and data analysis. At the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab at the University of Texas at Austin we have continued to provide opportunities through outreach programs to Huston-Tillotson University in Austin and Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, both Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Furthermore, in the past four years we have established a strong educational collaboration with the école Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Caen (ENSICAEN), France. Undergraduate students at ENSICAEN are required to have an internship outside of France. While many of the students stay in neighboring European countries others have chosen the United States. The cornerstone of these programs is to secure a relationship with each institution through clear educational and research objectives and goals.     

Development of a graduate curriculum in nuclear and radiochemistry and the research interactions with US Department of Energy national laboratories

Summary In the past few years there has been renewed worldwide interest in the re-establishment of various nuclear and radiochemistry disciplines in the hope of training the next generation of skilled researchers in this area. In the United States there continues to be an acute shortage of MSc and PhD level trained students, particularly at the Department of Energy national laboratories. As a result of this critical need the Department of Energy established a Radiochemistry Education Award Program (REAP) in the late 1990's to address this issue. Several universities were awarded funding to establish various complimentary programs. One of the main goals of the REAP at the University of Texas was to establish a web-based graduate level course with associated labs and to have interactions with the national laboratories.     

Radiochemistry teaching and research activities in Brazil

Summary Much concern has been expressed lately about the decline of teaching and research activities in radiochemistry in many countries, as was discussed in an IAEA Technical Meeting in Antalya, Turkey, in 2002, and also at MTAA-11 in Guildford, UK. In the IAEA meeting, a survey was presented about the current situation in different regions of the world (Eastern Europe, East and West Asia, Africa, North America and Latin America) by experts of each region. In the case of Brazil, which has nuclear research reactors and also cyclotrons in operation, the teaching and research activities in radiochemistry are concentrated in the three main institutes of the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission, in the University of S?o Paulo and in other universities, in different regions of the country. In the present paper, a closer look is given to the radiochemistry teaching and research activities that are being conducted nowadays in Brazil, comprising: number of radiochemistry courses and students being formed, main research areas being conducted, as well as research and production of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine, using nuclear reactors and cyclotrons.     

The American Chemical Society's Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology's summer schools in nuclear and radiochemistry

This successful educational program in nuclear and radiochemistry for advanced undergraduate students is described. Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy supports 24 fellowships for participants in the intensive six-week programs at San Jose State University (CA) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY). Students are provided transportation to and from the school site, room and board, books, lab supplies, and six units of college credit. The instructional program consists of lectures and laboratory exercises that cover the fundamentals of nuclear theory, radiochemistry, nuclear instrumentation, radiological safety, and applications in research, midicine, and industry. Guest lectures and field trips broaden the students' exposure to nuclear science. Assistance is provided in the following year to those students who wish to join a research project at a university or national laboratory, and thereafter, in their applications to graduate or professional school.     

In memoriam Professor Zhen-Rong Lu (8 January 1946–5 January 2007)

Professor Zhen-Rong Lu, passed away on 5^th January 2007. Zhen-Rong Lu was born in Changshu in Jiangsu Province on 8^th January 1946. He received his B.Sc. in 1968 and M.Sc. in 1981 from Nanjing University. He worked for Suzhou Research Institute of Chemical Engineering (1968–1979); Department of Chemistry, Suzhou University (1981–1988); Department of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Australia (1988); Department of Chemistry, Monash University, Australia (1989); Testing and Analysis Center, Suzhou University, China (1990–2007). Main fields of interest have been: kinetics; relationship between thermal behavior and structure of complexes; crystal and molecular structure using thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction. He was awarded the third award of STA in 1995. Number of publications was 84 and the number of citations was 115. He was the writer of different chapters, i.e. Handbook of Thermal Analysis, Chapter 3–6, Published by John Wiley & Sons, Chichester 1998; Thermal Analysis Kinetics (in Chinese), Chapter 1, Science Press, Beijing 2001. Professional activities were: Member of the Chemical Thermodynamics and Thermal Analysis Committee (CTTA), Chinese Chemical Society (CCS) (1998–2007), Editorial Board of the Journal of Thermal Analyis and Calorimetry (2003–2007), Chairman of the Thermal Analysis Committee of Jiangsu Province (1991–2007), Chairman 3^rd Chinese Symposium on Thermoanalysis Kinetics and Thermokinetics Shihezi, China (2003). Professor Lu was a good and a cordial man always. He was extremely generous, always willing to see the positive side of life. He was a famous teacher and an outstanding researcher on a local and an international level as well. Besides his academic endeavors, he enjoyed his life spending quality time with his family and friends. We have suffered a great loss. We will miss him a lot as we have lost a true friend. May he rest in peace.     

A century of radiochemistry: Its growth and development as a unique scientific discipline

In recognition of the 1997 anniversary of the first century of radiochemistry, a review is made of its unique contribution to the emergence of nuclear science, its development from the use of very basic chemical techniques initially to a battery of more sophisticated procedures, and its changing role as it has become widely applied in many fields of science. Synergistically, these fields have been able to develop with the aid of radiochemistry while at the same time, radiochemical methods developed to meet the demands of such applications. Among these, during the second half of the century, has been radiochemistry applied to quantitative chemical analysis: RAA or, nuclear analytical chemistry, and typical examples of its use in the authors' laboratory are described, including some recent INAA results on development of novel ‘activable’ tracer coding for forensic use with specialized and high security materials. The specific contributions, during the century, of Japanese pioneers in radiochemistry are also cited.     

The United States Department of Energy funded program: Summer schools in nuclear and radio-chemistry

Following several national surveys that clearly indicated both a paucity of universities offering nuclear chemistry courses, and a severe shortage of personnel trained and educated in nuclear sciences, the US Department of Energy (DOE) agreed to fund a special summer program. This program would take 12 undergraduates on a competitive scholarship basis from across the nation, and provide them with an intensive 6 week course in the fundamentals of nuclear science. The first such course was taught in the summer of 1984 at San Jose State University in California, and has met each summer since that time. In this course, the students cover material equivalent to approximately 2 semester units of health physics and radiological safety, 3 semester units of lecture material on nuclear chemistry, radiochemistry, uses of radionuclides, and nuclear instrumentation, and 3 semester units of laboratory work in radiochemistry, radiation chemistry, and associated topics in nuclear science. A second course was opened in 1989, with the same curriculum and intent, and sited at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. With regard to intent, both courses are very successful, with a majority of persons going on to complete graduate degrees in some aspect of nuclear science (nuclear chemistry, nuclear physics, health physics, nuclear medicine PhD programs, and synthesis with radio-nuclides or programs such as nuclear pharmacy or pharmacology) or nuclear medicine and oncology via MD programs.Presently a member of the Chemistry Department, formerly Chairman of the Department of Chemistry, and now Dean of the College of Science at SJSU.     

Radiochemistry at the University of Missouri-Columbia: A joint venture with chemistry,nuclear engineering,molecular biology,biochemistry, and the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR)

Summary The United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Laboratories, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are facing a serious attrition of nuclear scientists and engineers and their capabilities through the effects of aging staff. Within the DOE laboratories, 75% of nuclear personnel will be eligible to retire by 2010. It is expected that there will be a significant loss of senior nuclear science and technology staff at PNNL within five years. PNNL's nuclear legacy is firmly rooted in the DOE Hanford site, the World War II Manhattan Project, and subsequent programs. Historically, PNNL was a laboratory where 70% of its activities were nuclear/radiological, and now just under 50% of its current business science and technology are nuclear and radiologically oriented. Programs in the areas of nuclear legacies, global security, nonproliferation, homeland security and national defense, radiobiology and nuclear energy still involve more than 1,000 of the 3,800 current laboratory staff, and these include more than 420 staff who are certified as nuclear/radiological scientists and engineers. This paper presents the current challenges faced by PNNL that require an emerging strategy to solve the nuclear staffing issues through the maintenance and replenishment of the human nuclear capital needed to support PNNL nuclear science and technology programs.     

IR spectroscopic study of molecular associates of mesogenic cyanophenyls

Molecular association greathy affects the physicochemical properties of mesogenic cyanophenyls, which are currently widely used as molecular materials for optoelectronics. This paper reports on a polythermal IR spectroscopic study of molecular association for mesogenic alkyl/alkoxycyanobiphenyls and their hydrated and heteroaromatic analogs in nonpolar solutions, low-temperature inert matrices, and molecular condensate layers in the temperature ranges of 5–10 and 80–330 K. Correlation of the thermodynamic parameters of association with molecular structure of cyanophenyls is established. M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Translated fromZhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 395–400, May–June, 1998. This work was carried out in the framework of the Federal Program “Universities of Russia” and the International Scientific Collaboration Program OMMEL.     

The Living Textbook of Nuclear Chemistry

Summary A Summer School in Nuclear Chemistry sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy and the American Chemical Society has been held at San José State University for the past 20 years. The intent of the program is to introduce outstanding college students to the field of nuclear and radiochemistry with the goal that some of these students will consider careers on nuclear science. The program features radiochemistry experiments along with radiation safety training, guest lectures by well known nuclear scientists and field trips to nuclear chemistry facilities in the San Francisco area.     

Investigation,design and analysis of a fast neutron facility on beam port 4 at the University of Texas MARK II TRIGA Reactor

Graduate students in the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Texas at Austin have designed and modeled a fast neutron prompt-gamma activation analysis facility as part of a new course introduced in the graduate program titled “The Design of Nuclear Systems.” The students were responsible for creating a design concept as well as implementing and modeling the concept to ensure its safety and functionality. The purpose of the class was to give graduate students the independence to create a project of their own vision, but to do so in a collaborative and formal manner as will be necessary in their future work. The fast neutron PGAA facility was successfully designed and computational models have been analyzed to display benefits of the fast neutron facility compared to the thermal neutron PGAA facility that also exists at The University of Texas at Austin.     

DFT study on second-order nonlinear optical properties of Pt(II) complexes with different chromophores

DFT B3LYP/LANL2DZ method was employed to calculate electron properties and the second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) respond of platinum (II) complexes which have been synthesized by Weinstein group. 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline shows the ability to push electron in these complexes. Metal Pt plays a balancing charge role. Comparing complex 1b–6b with complex a, the β_vec value of complex 1b–5b is larger than one of complex a, while the β_vec value of complex 6b is smaller than one of complex a. In these seven complexes, the β_vec values of complexes increase with decreasing of the energy difference between HOMO and LUMO. Moreover, the electron transfers from deeper layer occupied orbitals to empty orbitals have a distinct contribution to second-order NLO coefficient. Supported by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, the Foundation of Jilin Provincial Excellent Youth (Grant No. 20050107) and Youth Science Foundation of Northeast Normal University (Grant No. 111494117)     

14C studies in the vicinity of the Czech NPPs

The Czech Republic has two nuclear power plants (NPPs) equipped with light water pressurized reactors (LWPR). Annual sampling of biota for ¹⁴C activity monitoring by Nuclear Physics Institute in cooperation with the National Institute of Radiation Protection started in 2002. We present the results of biota monitoring covering two sampling periods 2002–2005 and 2007–2008. The considerable problem in the case of biota sampling for monitoring purpose is given by a relatively short period of biota accumulation for prevailing types of biota samples (leaves of deciduous trees or agricultural plants), which usually lasts from several weeks to 2 months. The short period of sample accumulation can also be partly overlapped by a service period of reactor outage in a given NPP. On the base of our several years’ experiences we have changed a type of the sampled material to reduce variations of observed activities and to precise reference levels in the exposed and reference sites.     

SDAT: analysis of <Superscript>131m</Superscript>Xe with <Superscript>133</Superscript>Xe interference

The Spectral Deconvolution Analysis Tool (SDAT) software was developed at The University of Texas at Austin. SDAT utilizes a standard spectrum technique for the analysis of β–γ coincidence spectra. Testing was performed on the software to compare the standard spectrum analysis technique with a region of interest (ROI) analysis technique. Experimentally produced standard spectra and sample data were produced at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (NETL) TRIGA reactor. The results of the testing showed that the standard spectrum technique had lower errors than the ROI analysis technique for samples with low counting statistics. In contrast, the ROI analysis technique outperformed the standard spectrum technique in high counting statistics samples. It was also shown that the standard spectrum technique benefitted from a compression of the number of channels within the spectra.     

<Superscript>3</Superscript>H and <Superscript>90</Superscript>Sr in urine radiobioassay intercomparison results from the intercomparison studies program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory: statistical analysis of laboratory performance

The Intercomparison Studies Program (ISP) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN USA) provides natural-matrix human urine quality-assurance/quality-control (QA/QC) samples to radiobioassay analysis laboratories. Samples are provided to these laboratories as “single-blind” or “double-blind” unknowns, spiked with radioactive-solution standards at “low” levels (e.g., 0.7–7 Bq g⁻¹ for ³H and 0.7–7 Bq kg⁻¹ for ⁹⁰Sr). Participants use the results as a tool for self-evaluation and a measure of performance. In this paper, sample preparation and the results of testing during the years 2001–2005 for ³H and ⁹⁰Sr are presented and discussed.     

The determination of tellurium in geological materials using radiochemical neutron activation analysis with a low energy photon detector

A method is described for the trace level determination of Te in geological materials with a detection limit of 5–10 ppb. Destructive thermal neutron activation analysis is used with relatively simple radiochemistry employing efficient precipitation and ion exchange techniques. A germanium Low Energy Photon Detector (LEPD) is used for radioassaying which allows the relatively aboundant X-rays from^123mTe to be measured. This radioactive isotope emits Te Kα and Kβ X-rays at 27–31 keV which are readily resolved by the LEPD and therefore allows interference effects from fission product Te to be minimised giving reliable trace level data of high accuracy. The validity of the method is demonstrated by reporting analytical data for Te in a range of USGS Standard Rocks.     

Evaluation of measurements of 238Pu, 239Pu and 240Pu in urine at the microbecquerel level using thermal ionization mass spectrometry and alpha-spectrometry at Los Alamos National Laboratory: Results of a two year comparison test (LA-UR-06-8055)

The Intercomparison Studies Program (ISP) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, USA) provides natural-matrix urine quality-assurance/quality-control (QA/QC) samples to radiobioassay analysis laboratories. In 2003, a single laboratory (Los Alamos National Laboratory LANL, Los Alamos NM USA) requested a change in the test-samples provided previously by the ISP. The change was requested to evaluate measurement performance for analyses conducted using thermal-ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). Radionuclides included ²³⁹Pu at two activity levels (75–150 μBq^·sample⁻¹ and 1200–1600 μBq^·sample⁻¹) and ²³⁸Pu (3700–7400 μBq^·sample⁻¹). In addition, ²⁴⁰Pu was added to the samples so that the ^239+240Pu specific activity was 3700–7400 μBq^·sample⁻¹. In this paper, the results of testing during the period May, 2003 through September, 2005 are presented and discussed.