DAMAGE TO MITOCHONDRIAL ELECTRON TRANSPORT AND ENERGY COUPLING BY VISIBLE LIGHT
Plutonium is one of the principal materials of both commercial and military nuclear power. It is produced primarily in fission reactors that contain uranium fuel, and its importance arises from the fact that a large portion of the plutonium produced is fissile: like uranium 235, the mass 239 and 241 isotopes of plutonium can be caused to fission by neutrons, including those with low energy. Because such fission events also release neutrons, substantial amounts of energy can be extracted from plutonium in a controlled or an explosive nuclear chain reaction. Now that commercial nuclear reactors provide a noticeable fraction of United States (and world) electrical energy, these reactors account for most plutonium production. For the most part, this material now remains in the irradiated fuel after removal from reactors, but should this fuel be reprocessed, the plutonium could be recycled to provide part and even most of the fissile content of fresh fuel. For the current generation of water-cooled reactors, the amount of plutonium to be recycled is substantial. In fast breeder reactors, designed to produce more fissile material than they destroy, considerably larger quantities of plutonium would be recycled. In other types of advanced reactors, particularly those which depend heavily on thorium as the material from which fissile material (primarily uranium 233) is produced, the amount of plutonium to be handled would be considerably reduced. Because plutonium is a highly toxic substance, great care is taken to contain it at the sites and facilities where it is stored or handled. In addition, it is necessary that devices be available to monitor any releases from these facilities into environmental media and to measure concentrations of plutonium in these media. The radiation protection standards are so strict for plutonium that only small releases and low concentrations can be tolerated. Such considerations, discussed in the next section, require that monitoring instrumentation be extremely sensitive. The hazard from plutonium arises largely from the alpha particles emitted during radioactive decay. The most sensitive plutonium monitoring devices are based on detection of this radiation and are used for air monitoring and for measurement of plutonium extracted by radioachemical analysis of water, soil, and biological samples. Instruments for area surveyor for monitoring of human subjects often utilize the electromagnetic radiation (x-rays or gamma rays) which follow radioactive decay. Less often used techniques for plutonium monitoring include activation and electrochemical methods. Other techniques, such as mass measurement, are possible but not developed. It is worth noting that, for the most part, the techniques for monitoring plutonium may also be used for monitoring other nuclear materials, including transuranics that may be associated with plutonium. Techniques for monitoring plutonium have been reviewed previously. This article is based largely on work performed in connection with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Survey of Environmental Instrumentation. Detailed information on the properties and uses of plutonium may be found in references 4-14.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Environmental Energy Technologies Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1004758
- Report Number(s):
- LBL-6870; BBACAQ; TRN: US201104%%1080
- Journal Information:
- Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Journal Name: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta; ISSN 0006-3002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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