Developing 226Ra and 227Ac age-dating techniques for nuclear forensics to gain insight from concordant and non-concordant radiochronometers
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division
The model age or ‘date of purification’ of a nuclear material is an important nuclear forensic signature. In this study, chemical separation and MC-ICP-MS measurement techniques were developed for 226 Ra and 227Ac: grand-daughter nuclides in the 238U and 235U decay chains respectively. The 230Th-234U, 226Ra-238U, 231Pa-235U, and 227Ac-235U radiochronometers were used to calculate model ages for CRM-U100 standard reference material and two highly-enriched pieces of uranium metal from the International Technical Working Group Round Robin 3 Exercise. In conclusion, the results demonstrate the accuracy of the 226Ra-238U and 227Ac-235U chronometers and provide information about nuclide migration during uranium processing.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- OSTI ID:
- 1241985
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-669502; TRN: US1600477
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 307, Issue 3; ISSN 0236-5731
- Publisher:
- SpringerCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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