| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Seaborg Institutes: Emerging Topics in Actinide Materials and Science
|
| Presentation Title |
Local Structure and Distribution of Impurities in Plutonium Materials for Nuclear Forensics |
| Author(s) |
Sarah Hickam, Kasey Hanson, Harry Jang, Arjen van Veelen, Daniel Olive, Nicholas Edwards, Alison Pugmire |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Sarah Hickam |
| Abstract Scope |
Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is an established method for acquiring element-specific local structure information from materials. Combining this method with x-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental mapping provides the ability to quickly locate particles or “hot spots” of interest with up to 1 μm resolution and then obtain local structure information from individual points. One potential application of this technique is nuclear forensics, where there is a need to identify particles and then rapidly and nondestructively acquire information. Our work uses the combination of XRF and XAS to identify potential forensic signatures of PuO2 particles and bulk Pu metal samples. One focus is the investigation of impurities in these materials, which is made possible by the low detection limits (ppm) and element-specific nature of XAS. Our observations of differences in impurity local structure and distribution with different Pu metal oxidation conditions demonstrate the potential application of this technique for nuclear forensics. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Characterization, |