Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe

More than 40 years ago, an aircraft accident took place in Palomares (Spain) which involved the destruction of two nuclear weapons. A portion of the remaining transuranic contamination in the affected soils is present in the form of small high activity concentration particles (10-100 mm), also calle...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: García López, Francisco Javier, Jiménez Ramos, María del Carmen, García León, Manuel, García-Tenorio García-Balmaseda, Rafael
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/166791
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/166791
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2007.02.044
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hot particles
Transuranic contamination
Nuclear weapon accident
Microprobe
PIXE
RBS.
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spelling Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobeGarcía López, Francisco JavierJiménez Ramos, María del CarmenGarcía León, ManuelGarcía-Tenorio García-Balmaseda, RafaelHot particlesTransuranic contaminationNuclear weapon accidentMicroprobePIXERBS.More than 40 years ago, an aircraft accident took place in Palomares (Spain) which involved the destruction of two nuclear weapons. A portion of the remaining transuranic contamination in the affected soils is present in the form of small high activity concentration particles (10-100 mm), also called “hot particles”, which contain plutonium and uranium. Several hot particles have been isolated and identified from the superficial soils recently collected in the zone affected by the accident. The isolation was carried out by screening the soil using gamma-ray spectrometry, through discrimination of the high activity concentrations of 241Am in the samples which indicates the presence of plutonium. The hot particles, composed of several elements with very high atomic number, could be easily identified by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in Backscattering Electron Image (BSE) mode. Moreover, their morphology and size were also studied using SEM in Secondary Electron (SE) mode. In this work, the hot particles have been investigated with the nuclear 1 microprobe of the National Accelerator Centre (CNA) in Seville. Compositional analysis, mapping and depth distribution of different elements have been performed by a simultaneous combination of Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). Uranium and Plutonium have been identified in the PIXE spectra as the main components of the particles, whereas the concentration of Americium is two orders of magnitude smaller. In addition, an estimation of the particles density has been obtained by comparison of the RBS results with the particles thickness directly determined by SEM.ElsevierFísica Atómica, Molecular y NuclearFísica Aplicada IIRNM138: Física Nuclear AplicadaJunta de AndalucíaMinisterio de Ciencia y Tecnología (MCYT). España2007info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/11441/166791https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2007.02.044reponame:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevillainstname:Universidad de Sevilla (US)InglésNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 260, 343-348.RNM419FIGE-CT2000-0108https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168583X07004193?via%3Dihubinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:idus.us.es:11441/1667912026-06-17T12:51:07Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
title Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
spellingShingle Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
García López, Francisco Javier
Hot particles
Transuranic contamination
Nuclear weapon accident
Microprobe
PIXE
RBS.
title_short Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
title_full Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
title_fullStr Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
title_full_unstemmed Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
title_sort Characterisation of hot particles remaining in soils from Palomares (Spain) using a nuclear microprobe
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv García López, Francisco Javier
Jiménez Ramos, María del Carmen
García León, Manuel
García-Tenorio García-Balmaseda, Rafael
author García López, Francisco Javier
author_facet García López, Francisco Javier
Jiménez Ramos, María del Carmen
García León, Manuel
García-Tenorio García-Balmaseda, Rafael
author_role author
author2 Jiménez Ramos, María del Carmen
García León, Manuel
García-Tenorio García-Balmaseda, Rafael
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear
Física Aplicada II
RNM138: Física Nuclear Aplicada
Junta de Andalucía
Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (MCYT). España
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Hot particles
Transuranic contamination
Nuclear weapon accident
Microprobe
PIXE
RBS.
topic Hot particles
Transuranic contamination
Nuclear weapon accident
Microprobe
PIXE
RBS.
description More than 40 years ago, an aircraft accident took place in Palomares (Spain) which involved the destruction of two nuclear weapons. A portion of the remaining transuranic contamination in the affected soils is present in the form of small high activity concentration particles (10-100 mm), also called “hot particles”, which contain plutonium and uranium. Several hot particles have been isolated and identified from the superficial soils recently collected in the zone affected by the accident. The isolation was carried out by screening the soil using gamma-ray spectrometry, through discrimination of the high activity concentrations of 241Am in the samples which indicates the presence of plutonium. The hot particles, composed of several elements with very high atomic number, could be easily identified by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in Backscattering Electron Image (BSE) mode. Moreover, their morphology and size were also studied using SEM in Secondary Electron (SE) mode. In this work, the hot particles have been investigated with the nuclear 1 microprobe of the National Accelerator Centre (CNA) in Seville. Compositional analysis, mapping and depth distribution of different elements have been performed by a simultaneous combination of Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). Uranium and Plutonium have been identified in the PIXE spectra as the main components of the particles, whereas the concentration of Americium is two orders of magnitude smaller. In addition, an estimation of the particles density has been obtained by comparison of the RBS results with the particles thickness directly determined by SEM.
publishDate 2007
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2007
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/11441/166791
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2007.02.044
url https://hdl.handle.net/11441/166791
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2007.02.044
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 260, 343-348.
RNM419
FIGE-CT2000-0108
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168583X07004193?via%3Dihub
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
instname:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
instname_str Universidad de Sevilla (US)
reponame_str idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
collection idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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