Sorption of plutonium from low level liquid waste using nano MnO2

Nano-crystalline MnO₂ has been synthesized by the method of alcoholic hydrolysis of KMnO₄ and its potential as a sorbent for plutonium present in the low level liquid waste (LLW) solutions was investigated. The kinetic studies on the sorption of Pu by MnO₂ reveal the attainment of equilibrium sorption in 15 h, however 90 % of sorption could be achieved within an hour. In the studies on optimization of the solution conditions for sorption, it was observed that the sorption increases with the pH of the aqueous solution, attains the maximum value of 100 % at pH = 3 and remains constant thereafter. The sorption was found to be nearly independent of the ionic strength (0.01–1.0 M) of the aqueous solutions maintained using NaClO₄, indicating the inner sphere complexation between the Pu⁴⁺ ions and the surface sites on MnO₂. Interference studies with different fission products, viz., Cs⁺, Sr²⁺ and Nd³⁺, revealed decrease in the percentage sorption with increasing pH of the suspension indicating the competition between the metal ions. However, at the metal ion concentrations prevalent in the low level liquid waste solutions, the decrease in the Pu sorption was only marginally decreased to 90 % at pH = 3, the decrease being more in the case of Nd³⁺ than that in the case of Cs⁺. This study, therefore, shows nano-crystalline MnO₂ can be used as a sorbent for separation of Pu from LLW solutions.     

After effects of β− on time differential perturbed angular correlation spectra

The after effects of β⁻ -decay on time differential perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) spectra of II–VI semiconductor CdS have been studied using β⁻ -emitting¹¹¹Ag as well as^111mCd as probe nuclei. The TDPAC spectrum of¹¹¹Ag in CdS exhibits a time dependent interaction indicating that the preceding β⁻ -decay leaves the daughter nucleus in an excited state. The recovery time (τ_g) of the probe atom was found to be 16±6 ns while Abragam and Pound's relaxation time (τ_kr) was found to be 9±2 ns. The results show that β⁻ -decay does change the chemical environment around the probe atom.     

Investigate oxoazolidine-2,4-dione based eutectic mixture via DFT calculations and SAR

In this work, DFT calculations for the designed eutectic mixtures (EMs) using oxoazolidine 2,4-dione (OZD) and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) are done. The interaction between the hydrogen bond donor and hydrogen bond acceptor at atomic level to get EMs are studied using DFT calculations. At room temperature, the stability of these various systems have been investigated using thermodynamic values or parameters such as enthalpy, free energy and others. DFT calculations is used to investigate the possibility of forming the systems (EMs). Further, the impact of varying the temperature on each system was also investigated (323K, 348K). Various other thermodynamic parameters are studied like dipole moment, hardness, chemical potential of the systems (individual molecules and EMs) at different temperatures. The results of the calculations showed that O1Z4 and O4Z1 have maximum dipole moment having values 8.1291, 9.8801 respectively, indicating maximum polarizability. Change in free energy for O1Z4 is least and was found to be ?37.2496 kcal/ mol. Further on changing the temperature, the parameters do not show much variation. Additionally, we have analyzed structure activity relationship (SAR) method to understand the physico-chemical properties of designed EMs and predict their regression and correlation to optimized energy. From the calculated values of pOE model, the value of r² is 0.9995 confirms the validity of the equation obtained. The results of this study suggest a link between the structures that have been utilized to describe the intermolecular interaction between the hydrogen bond donor and acceptor, as well as the stability of the EMs.     

Mass resolved angular distribution in helium ion induced fission of233U

Mass resolved fission fragment angular distribution was measured in the 28.5 MeV alpha induced fission of²³³U using recoil catcher technique and direct gamma spectrometry. The angular distribution of 8 fission products were obtained. The angular anisotropies of asymmetric fission products were found to be higher than those of symmetric products indicating a correlation between the fragment angular distribution and the mass distribution.The authors are grateful to Dr. S.K. Kataria and Dr. T. Datta for fruitful discussions. We thank the operation crew of the variable energy cyclotron, Calcutta for their help in carrying out the irradiations. Thanks are due to Dr. P.R. Natarajan, Head of the Radiochemistry Division for his keen interest in the work.     

Quantum interference effect in laser patterned BSCCO thick film

DC SQUID structure consisting of two microbridges and a circular hole was patterned on BSCCO thick film using laser ablation technique. Quantum interference effects on these patterned films were studied at fixed biasing current by applying changing magnetic field. The SQUID with 100 μm × 70 μm microbridges showed noisy and irregular V-B behaviour whereas the SQUID containing smaller microbridges showed better V-B characteristic. Temperature dependence of the I-V and V-B characteristics of the SQUID is also reported.     

Application of medium energy plasma focus device in study of radioisotopes

Pulsed neutrons generated in a plasma focus device are used for the thermal neutron activation analysis (TNAA) of selected three elements having widely different half-lives varying from a few seconds to a few days [Dysprosium (Dy), Manganese (Mn) and Gold (Au)]. Neutron pulse having strength of $(1.2\pm 0.3)\times {10}^9$ neutrons/pulse with a pulse width of $46\pm 5\text{ns}$ is produced by “MEPF-12” device operated at a filling gas (deuterium + 0.5% krypton) pressure of 3 mbar. The fast 2.45 MeV D–D neutrons are thermalized before irradiating the sample. The decay gammas from the radioisotopes ^165mDy ($T_{1/2}=1.26\text{min.}$), ⁵⁶Mn ($T_{1/2}=2.58\text{hrs.}$), and ¹⁹⁸Au ($T_{1/2}=2.69\text{days}$) produced via reactions, ¹⁶⁴Dy($n,\gamma$)^165mDy, ⁵⁵Mn($n,\gamma$) ⁵⁶Mn, and ¹⁹⁷Au($n,\gamma$) ¹⁹⁸Au respectively are counted off-line in a lead shielded well type $76\times 76{\text{mm}}^2$ NaI(Tl) detector coupled to a calibrated 2048 channel analyzer. The values of half-lives evaluated from the measured decay gammas, $1.43\pm 0.3\text{min.}$, $2.56\pm 0.5\text{hrs.}$ and $2.84\pm 0.6\text{days}$ respectively for the radioisotopes of Dy, Mn and Au, are seen to be close to the values reported in literature.     

Observation of rf SQUID characteristics in YBCO bulk at 77 K

The online version of the original article can be found at     

RF sputtered thin films of highT cY-Ba-Cu-O

Y-Ba-Cu-O films are grown on strontium titanate substrates by RF sputtering from a single composite target. A barium-deficient annular ring with diameter equal to that of the target dimension is repeatedly observed. Films inside this ring are deposited exclusively at the close target-substrate distance. At larger distances the films grow more in exterior regions rather than in the interior region of the ring. Stoichiometry, structural morphology and superconducting transition temperatures are studied for various regions of the film. The films are superconducting when sintered in flowing oxygen at 950°C with onset at 100 K and a broad transition width.     

Observation of rf SQUID characteristics in YBCO bulk at 77 K

RF SQUID behaviour due to grain boundary weak links in a bulk YBCO is observed at 77 K using modified commercial rf electronics. Porous samples with lowI _c are found to show this characteristic whereas dense samples with higherI _c do not show SQUID behaviour.V-B modulation characteristic is found to be better when the rf pumping frequency is kept slightly higher than the resonance frequency of the tank circuit. Designing of coil for tank circuit with appropriateQ has been found to be very crucial for seeing the SQUID behaviour. Estimation of parameters such as coupling constant, mutual inductance, inductance and radius of the SQUID loop, have been made and their significance is discussed. Flux noise spectrum of the bulk rf SQUID in flux locked mode is also reported.     

Conductance of iron(III) laurate solutions in binary liquid mixtures

Summary The specific conductivity of iron(III) laurate solutions in binary liquid mixtures shows that the soap aggregates into micelles and CMC is found to be independent of temperature and concentration of benzene, acetone and tetrachloromethane in 1-butanol. The variation of molecular conductance,, with soap concentration, C, is expressed by the equation: = 10^AC^B. Both constants A and B vary with solvent composition but B remains constant with increase in temperature. Several parameters such as molecular conductance at infinite dilution, , dissociation constant, K, heat of dissociation, H, entropy, S and free energy, G of dissociation of soap have been evaluated and the effect of the nature of solvents has been discussed.