Half-life of /sup 232/U

Journal Article · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · Phys. Rev., C; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.20.1533· OSTI ID:5812380

Aggarwal, S K; Manohar, S B; Acharya, S N; Prakash, S; Jain, H C

The half-life of /sup 232/U was determined by two independent methods: a specific activity method and a relative activity method involving the half-life of /sup 233/U. In the specific activity method, the ..cap alpha.. disintegration rate of /sup 232/U was determined by liquid scintillation counting as well as by ..cap alpha.. proportional counting, and the number of atoms of /sup 232/U was determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. The radiochemical purity of the purified /sup 232/U was confirmed by ..cap alpha.. spectrometry. A half-life value of 69.00 +- 0.40 yr was obtained. In the relative activity method, synthetic mixtures were prepared using isotopes of /sup 232/U and /sup 233/U. The ..cap alpha.. activity ratios in these mixtures were determined by ..cap alpha.. spectrometry and the atom ratios were obtained by mass spectrometry. The ..cap alpha.. activity ratios and the atom ratios were such that these could be measured with a high precision and accuracy. A half-life value of 68.81 +- 0.38 yr was obtained using the half-life of /sup 233/U as 1.592 x 10/sup 5/ yr. The average of these two independent determinations leads to a value of 68.90 +- 0.39 yr for the half-life of /sup 232/U. The uncertainty given on the values is a combination of the one standard deviation on the average value and the error evaluated from estimates on various error components. The values reported earlier are significantly higher as compared to the half-life value obtained in this work.

• Research Organization: Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Bombay 400 085, India
• OSTI ID: 5812380
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev., C; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev., C; (United States) Vol. 20:4; ISSN PRVCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

652022* -- Nuclear Properties & Reactions
A=220 & above
Experimental-- Radioactive Decay-- (-1987)
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DECAY
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HALF-LIFE
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LIQUID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
MASS SPECTROMETERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NUCLEI
PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SPECTROMETERS
URANIUM 232
URANIUM 233
URANIUM ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES