Nuclear proliferomics: A new field of study to identify signatures of nuclear materials as demonstrated on alpha-UO3.

Nuclear proliferomics: A new field of study to identify signatures of nuclear materials as demonstrated on alpha-UO3. Talanta. 2018 Aug 15;186:433-444 Authors: Schwerdt IJ, Brenkmann A, Martinson S, Albrecht BD, Heffernan S, Klosterman MR, Kirkham T, Tasdizen T, McDonald Iv LW Abstract The use of a limited set of signatures in nuclear forensics and nuclear safeguards may reduce the discriminating power for identifying unknown nuclear materials, or for verifying processing at existing facilities. Nuclear proliferomics is a proposed new field of study that advocates for the acquisition of large databases of nuclear material properties from a variety of analytical techniques. As demonstrated on a common uranium trioxide polymorph, α-UO3, in this paper, nuclear proliferomics increases the ability to improve confidence in identifying the processing history of nuclear materials. Specifically, α-UO3 was investigated from the calcination of unwashed uranyl peroxide at 350, 400, 450, 500, and 550 °C in air. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were acquired of the surface morphology, and distinct qualitative differences are presented between unwashed and washed uranyl peroxide, as well as the calcination products from the unwashed uranyl peroxide at the investigated temperatures. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometry (TGA-...
Source: Talanta - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Talanta Source Type: research