Atomic fingerprint identifies emission sources of uranium

Science Daily  March 9, 2020 Isotopic ratios of radioactive releases into the environment are useful signatures for contamination source assessment. A ratio of uranium trace isotopes may serve as a superior oceanographic tracer. An international team of researchers (Austria, Australia, Denmark, Japan, Germany) analysed ratio on the atomic 233U/236U ratio analyzed in representative environmental samples. The ratios detected in compartments of the environment affected by releases of nuclear power production or by weapons fallout differ by one order of magnitude. Significant amounts of 233U were only released in nuclear weapons fallout. This makes the 233U/236U ratio a promising new fingerprint […]

Smaller detection device effective for nuclear treaty verification, archaeology digs

Phys.org  January 29, 2020 Researchers at MIT describe the Monte Carlo (MC) based design of a compact epithermal Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis (NRTA) radiographic instrument, which uses a moderated, compact deuterium-tritium neutron source and an epithermal neutron detector. The MC simulations presented in this work demonstrate accurate time-of-flight reconstructions for transmitted neutron energies, capable of differentiating isotopic compositions of nuclear material with high levels of accuracy. A new generation of miniaturized neutron sources will allow this technique to achieve measurements with greater precision and speed, with significant impact on a variety of engineering and societal problems. The instrument would have […]

Portable radiation detectors make the invisible, visible

Physics World  August 8, 2019 Traditionally, workers have used hand-held meters to survey small areas methodically, square centimetre by square centimetre. This process is cumbersome, and it can also mean that technicians spend unnecessarily long periods of time in dangerous environments. An international team of researchers (UK, Japan) developed Hot Spot Locator (HSL) that images gamma radiation similar to the way digital cameras image visible light. Signals from an array of high-energy radiation sensors are coupled with a coded aperture, a collection of around a dozen pinholes, which the HCL’s deconvolution algorithms can interpret to create a true image of […]