The detection of illicit weapons-grade nuclear material is a significant technical challenge receiving a great deal of attention in the nuclear community. A proposed solution is to actively bombard the material under investigation with neutrons, populating nuclear isomers in any potential fissile material. These isomers decay quickly, releasing gamma rays...
In consideration of the potential use of minor actinides in nuclear fuel, the fission products of several minor actinides (²³⁷Np, ²⁴¹Am, ²⁴²[superscript m]Am, ²⁴³Cm, ²⁴⁴Cm, ²⁴⁵Cm, and ²⁴⁶Cm) were evaluated and compared to the fission products of ²³⁵U. Available data from the Evaluated Nuclear Data File and the Nuclear Database...
The United States nuclear industry is under
significant public pressure to close the nuclear fuel
cycle. Closing the fuel cycle will require that nuclear
waste, fission products and transuranics, except plutonium
(actinides), be disposed of by permanent burial. The
actinides can be buried with the fission products, but this
will...
Carboxylic acids have played an important role in the field of actinide (An) and lanthanide (Ln) separations and the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel. Recent bench-scale experiments have demonstrated that 3-carboxy-3-hydroxypentanedioic acid (citric acid) is a promising aqueous complexant that can effectively aid in the separation of transition metals from...