Project Title: Radiochemical Analysis by High Sensitivity Dual-Optic Micro X-ray Fluorescence
A novel dual-optic micro X-ray fluorescence instrument will be developed to do radiochemical analysis of high-level radioactive wastes at DOE sites such as Savannah River Site and Hanford. This concept incorporates new X-ray optical elements such as monolithic polycapillaries and double bent crystals, which focus X-rays. The polycapillary optic can be used to focus X-rays emitted by the X-ray tube thereby increasing the X-ray flux on the sample over 1000 times. Polycapillaries will also be used to collect the X-rays from the excitation site and screen the radiation background from the radioactive species in the specimen. This dual-optic approach significantly reduces the background and increases the analyte signal thereby increasing the sensitivity of the analysis. A doubly bent crystal used as the focusing optic produces focused monochromatic X-ray excitation, which eliminates the bremsstrahlung background from the X-ray source. The coupling of the doubly bent crystal for monochromatic excitation with a polycapillary for signal collection can effectively eliminate the noise background and radiation background from the specimen. The integration of these X-ray optics increases the signal-to-noise and thereby increases the sensitivity of the analysis for low-level analytes. This work will address a key need for radiochemical analysis of high-level waste using a non-destructive, multi-element, and rapid method in a radiation environment. There is significant potential that this instrumentation could be capable of on-line analysis for process waste stream characterization at DOE sites.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM; X-Ray Optical Systems, Albany, NY (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG07-01ER63280
- OSTI ID:
- 835000
- Report Number(s):
- EMSP-81967-2002; R&D Project: EMSP 81967; TRN: US0407416
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Jun 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Project Title: Radiochemical Analysis by High Sensitivity Dual-Optic Micro X-ray Fluorescence
Polycapillary x-ray optics for thin film strain and texture analysis
Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
EXCITATION
FLUORESCENCE
FOCUSING
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
OPTICS
RADIATIONS
RADIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS
SCREENS
SENSITIVITY
WASTES
X-RAY SOURCES
X-RAY TUBES