14C AMS measurement of gas diluted reactor graphite using a Gas Injection System

Abstract

For the final disposal of reactor graphite a quantitative characterization of its radioactivity is needed. In this work an emphasis is placed on the isotope 14C, an isotope accessible to AMS measurements. Reactor graphite can be highly activated and therefore difficult to measure without the risk of contaminating the AMS setup. Using an Elemental Analyzer (EA), a Gas Injection System (GIS) and the 6 MV AMS system of the Institute for Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, we automated the measurement process for gaseous, diluted samples. The presented work shows the first steps to verify the possibility of gas dilution and provides a comparison to samples with known concentrations of 14C. In the future, our system will provide a high sample throughput of gas-diluted probes with high activities.