Radiochemical analysis of a copper beam dump irradiated with high-energetic protons

摘要

The radionuclide inventory of a copper beam dump from the 590 MeV proton accelerator of the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland was determined, focusing on radioisotopes with half-lives of more than 60 d, and in particular, of long-lived isotopes with T-1/2 = 10(4) - 10(7) years, which are important regarding radioactive waste management. The measurements were carried out using high resolution gamma-measurement without sample destruction, as well as liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) after chemical separation. For the first time, a beam dump from a high power accelerator facility was completely characterized concerning the depth and radical distribution profile of the most hazardous and/or long-lived radionuclides. Moreover, it turned out that some of the investigated radionuclides, like for instance Al-26, Ti-44 or Fe-60 represent valuable material for application in several scientific field like nuclear astrophysics, basic nuclear physics research, radiopharmacy and many others. therefore, based on the analytical results, a special research and development program has been started at PSI objecting on specific preparative extraction of long-lived radioisotopes (ERAWAST - exotic radionuclides from accelerator waste for science and technology).