Evaluation of promethium-147 production by irradiating natural neodymium using medium-flux Tehran research reactor
- PDF / 2,014,039 Bytes
- 10 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 81 Downloads / 206 Views
Evaluation of promethium‑147 production by irradiating natural neodymium using medium‑flux Tehran research reactor Seyed Ehsan Hosseini1 · Mohammad Ghannadi‑Maragheh1 · Ali Bahrami‑Samani1 · Simindokht Shirvani‑Arani1 Received: 5 May 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract Promethium-147 (147Pm) has numerous applications in the manufacturing of unique devices for monitoring production processes. Previous studies have focused on the production of 147Pm using high-flux reactors. Moreover, the applied separation method is often based on extraction chromatography. In this study, the production of 147Pm is evaluated by the irradiation of a neodymium (Nd) target in a medium-flux reactor, and 147Pm is separated from the Nd-target material using Ln resin. Theoretical calculations and practical experiments have been performed, and an acceptable level of compliance between the predicted results and the obtained practical activity was observed. Furthermore, 147Pm with sufficient activity and minimal impurities was produced using the developed process. Keywords Promethium-147 · Natural neodymium · Medium-flux reactor · Extraction chromatography
Introduction Ionizing radiation has a broad application in manufacturing of nuclear gauges for modern and automatic production processes to control and monitor the quality of the products. Nuclear gauges don’t need to be in contact with the material under examination and therefore they can be used to monitor high speed processes, materials with extreme temperatures, harmful chemical properties, and materials that are damaged by contact as well as packaged products [1]. The application of these gauging devices has been used to measure, monitor, and control the thickness of sheet metal, textiles, paper napkins, newspaper, plastics, photographic film, and other products as they are manufactured [2]. These gauges measure the thickness of constant-density materials that pass through the production line by detecting the attenuation of the ionizing beam. A typical commercial example can continuously monitor the thickness of plates, sheets, coatings, or the quantities and compositions of raw materials on the conveyor belts [3]. Beta, gamma, and X-rays, as well as neutrons, are used for this purpose, depending on * Ali Bahrami‑Samani [email protected] 1
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute (NSTRI), P.O. Box: 14155‑1339, Tehran, Iran
the materials used and their geometries. However, Promethium-147 (147Pm), as a beta radiation source, is used in transmission and backscatter gauges to measure the thickness of thin materials such as paper, metal coatings, and plastic [1]. 147Pm is a soft beta emitter that decays with very low energy particles (Eβ−,ave = 61.96 keV, 99.99%) and a low abundant (2.9 × 10−3%) 121.2 keV gamma-ray with the half-life of 2.62 years [4]. This radionuclide also has several applications in the manufacturing of special devices, including fluorescent and lighting instruments and low-power nuclear batteries
Data Loading...
