RADIOLYSIS OF LIQUID AMMONIA
Aerojet-General Nucleonics studied the fission fragment radiolysis of liquid ammonia as part of an Air Force program to build a pumped-slurry, reactor loop for hydrazine production. Gas chromatography, absorption spectroscopy and micro-current coulometry are used for chemical analysis, and solid state fission fragment detectors are used for irradiation dosimetry. The radiolysis products of liquid ammonia appear to be limited to hydrazine, hydrogen and nitrogen. There is no formation of nitrate, nitrite, hydroxylamine or azides unless the ammonia is impure. The relatively low, product yields from gamma and x-ray experiments were interpreted by simple reactions involving H and NH/sub 2/ radicals and N/sub 2/H/sub 4/ molecules. Much higher yields of hydrazine, as well as hydrogen and nitrogen, have been observed in fission fragment experiments. These cannot be adequately explained by the gamma ray mechanism alone. The higher concentrations of H and NH/sub 2/ radicals along the fission fragment tracks would produce higher relative yields of hydrogen and hydrazine, but the higher yields of nitrogen and generally greater effectiveness of fission fragments require different mechanisms. These may involve NH radicals or excited NH/sub 2/ radicals. Several methods, such as photochemical production of specific radicals in frozen ammonia and tracer experiments with N/sup 15/ labeled hydrazine, are under study to test the proposed mechanisms. (JAIF)
- Research Organization:
- Aerojet-General Nucleonics, San Ramon, Calif.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-17-030046
- OSTI ID:
- 4709966
- Journal Information:
- Proc. Japan Conf. Radioisotopes, Journal Name: Proc. Japan Conf. Radioisotopes Vol. Vol: 5th, No. 2
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AMMONIA
CHROMATOGRAPHY
COULOMETRY
CURRENTS
ELECTROLYTIC CELLS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FREE RADICALS
GAMMA RADIATION
GASES
GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
HYDRAZINE
HYDROGEN
IRRADIATION
LIQUIDS
MINERAL ACIDS
MOLECULES
NITRATES
NITRITES
NITROGEN
NITROGEN 15
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROUS ACID
PHOTOCHEMISTRY
PRODUCTION
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOLYSIS
REACTORS
SLURRIES
SOLIDS
SPECTROSCOPY
VOLTAMETRY
X RADIATION