Abstract
An automated CO2 gas handling and injection system was developed. It is designed to dilute CO2 samples with blank gas in a mixing volume. The system is intended to be used for the characterization and quantification of 14C content in reactor graphite with accelerator mass spectrometry. A 100 kV accelerator system was developed to measure samples with high 14C content, to test the gas injection system and to measure the 3H content from gaseous releases of reactor graphite. Additionally, the Tandetron model 4130 was purchased from the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena (Germany) and a concept was developed for installation at the accelerator building of the University of Cologne. With the new 3 MV system, new isotopic ratio measurements and ion beam techniques for material analysis can be performed. The system will be used for nuclear waste management measurements of isotopes, e.g. 3H, 14C, 36Cl, 41Ca and 55Fe, which are difficult to measure with other techniques.
Highlights
For the worldwide 250,000 tons of neutron-irradiated reactor graphite, currently no comprehensive disposal strategy exists [1]
Accelerator mass spectrometry provides a fast and reliable alternative for the determination of long lived betaemitters which are difficult to measure with standard techniques like liquid scintillation counting
CologneAMS has started to build up dedicated infrastructures for nuclear waste management measurements
Summary
For the worldwide 250,000 tons of neutron-irradiated reactor graphite, currently no comprehensive disposal strategy exists [1]. The difficulty for the disposal of reactor graphite is the large amount of mobilisable activation products and the release of gaseous substances under repository conditions This includes several long lived beta-emitters which are difficult to measure with common techniques like liquid scintillation counting, e.g. 3H, 14C and 36Cl. The radioactive inventory is dominated by 14C, which is partly in the same chemical form as the matrix itself. The Cologne center for accelerator mass spectrometry [3], CologneAMS, has started an intense program for studying the applicability of accelerator mass spectrometry of nuclides like 3H, 14C, 36Cl and 41Ca [4] in nuclear waste It proposes a new precise and reliable way for the quantification of the radioactive material by the means of direct atom counting. With a terminal voltage of 100 kV and 3 MV respectively, will be built up, because reactor graphite material must not compromise the 6-MV AMS system which is used for our routine radiocarbon measurements
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