Abstract
As a long-lived nuclear waste, iodine (129I) which is primarily generated from nuclear fission of uranium or plutonium is considered harmful to human and environment. Therefore, proper steps are required to treat the radioactive isotope. In this work, we propose transmutation of I-129 isotope using cyclotron-based proton bombardment. The TALYS code was employed to calculate nuclear cross-sections of various nuclear reactions possible to transmute I-129 into shortlived radionuclides or stable isotopes. Twelve different nuclear reactions, namely (p,n), (p,2n), (p,3n), (p,np), (p,2np), (p,a), (p,d), (p,2p), (p,nα), (p,γ), (p,3He), and (p,t), which have significant cross-sections (greater than 1 mb) were analyzed. Based on the nuclear reactions, there were 6 possible stable isotopes produced from proton bombardment of 129I, such as 129Xe, 128Xe, 127I, 126Te, 125Te and 130Xe. Short-lived radionuclides such as 29mXe (half life = 8.88 days), 127Xe (half life = 36.35 days), 127mXe (half life = 62.9 seconds), 128I (half life = 24.99 minutes), 125mTe (half life = 57.40 days), 127Te (half life = 9.35 hours) and 127mTe (half life = 106.1 days) could also be possibly produced from the proton irradiation of 129I nuclear waste. To sum up, the longest radionuclide could be generated from proton bombardment of 129I nuclear waste is 127mTe (half life = 106.1 days), which is a lot shorter than 129I (half life = 1.57x107 years). This theoretical study indicates that transmutation of 129I nuclear waste by proton bombardment into short-lived radionuclides is greatly feasible. Current available cyclotrons in Indonesia may be employed to help transmute 129I into short-lived radionuclides or stable isotopes. This theoretical study can be used as a reference for future 129I nuclear waste if proton beams are employed in the transmutation.
Published Version
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