Radiochemistry
A Short Course
Radiation Protection Bureau
January – March, 2004
Donald R. Wiles
Chemistry Department
Carleton University
January, 2004
©
Preface
Radiochemistry is a very broad subject, and it is unlikely that many people will be able to know all of it. Some fundamentals are, however, essential to all. It is important that everyone working with radioactive materials understand the nature of radiation, radioactive growth and decay and the interaction with matter. The first few lectures in this course will deal with these fundamentals. After that, it is possible to choose among various aspects of the subject: radiobiology, environmental monitoring, trace quantity chemistry, waste disposal, nuclear pharmacology as well as some of the more esoteric studies such as nuclear theories, transuranic element chemistry, high-energy nuclear reactions and others. Some of these topics are beyond the intended range of this course, although they may emerge occasionally. Other topics can be chosen or ignored, according to the needs and interests of each individual.
The course that follows is broken up into sections, each about one lecture in extent. Some will be simpler or shorter than others, because the subjects dictate stopping points. In many cases, numerical problems are given. It is usually important that, at the very least, students should understand how to proceed to solve the problems. The best way to achieve this level is actually to do many of the problems. There may occasionally be more than one way to approach a problem, but there is usually only one correct answer. In some cases the required accuracy is dictated by the accuracy of the available data. In other cases, realistic measurement is inaccurate so that great precision is unnecessary. In all cases, at least an intuitive appreciation of the problem and its answer is important.
It should be possible for students to master three such lectures per week, although on occasion the problems may require more time. It is recommended that, especially with problems of radioactive decay and of radioactive growth, that students go through at least some of the problems by hand rather than by computer. Later, such problems can be readily solved in a spread sheet or other type of program. The best computer is still between the ears!
It is likely to turn out, in many sections of the course, that some members of the class know much more about the topics than is covered in the course. This should be neither surprising nor disheartening that is your job.
Several Chapters are given on theories of nuclear structure and nuclear transformations. These are admittedly superficial, but should make it possible for students to make predictions of half lives and energies of the decay of undiscovered nuclides. More important, it should give students some idea of how these theories work. These sections can well simply be ignored if they prove not to be interesting.
A few major books are available on Radiochemistry. Some of the older ones are still very useful since the fundamentals will not have changed. Here are a number that can be found useful:
Friedlander, Kennedy and Miller. Nuclear and Radiochemistry; Second Edition.
New York, Wiley, 1964
Friedlander, Kennedy, Macias and Miller. Nuclear and Radiochemistry; Third Edition,
New York, Wiley
Choppin and Rydberg. Radiochemistry and Nuclear Chemistry
Choppin, Liljenzin and Rydberg. Nuclear Chemistry and Radiochemistry; Third Edition, 2002.
Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-7463-6
Evans, Robley D. The Atomic Nucleus. Wiley
Wahl and Bonner Radioactivity Applied to Chemistry. New York, Wiley, 1951
Wiles. The Chemistry of Nuclear Fuel Waste Disposal, 2002.
Polytechnic International. ISBN 2-553-01025-7
and many more.
Appendix IV gives a number of web sites that are to be recommended.
For nuclear data, the web site of the National Nuclear Data Center at Brookhaven National Laboratory is very good:
http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nndc/nudat/
Other excellent sites are
http://nucleardata.nuclear.lu.se/database/masses/
http://ie.lbl.gov/toi/
The present set of notes will be amended and likely expanded as the course progresses. Modifications will be provided during the course and a complete revised set will be provided toward the end of the course.
DRW, January, 2004
Table of Contents
Section One Introduction
1. Properties of Nuclei
2. Mass and Energy in Nuclear Transitions
Section Two Radioactivity
3. Radioactivity: The Primary Phenomena
4. Radioactivity: The Secondary Phenomena
5. Nuclear Reactions
6. Radioactive Decay Half Lives
7. Radioactive Growth and Decay
8. Radioactive Decay Chains Series Growth and Decay
9. Natural Decay Series Some Typical Problems
10. Reading Charts and Nuclear Decay Schemes
Section Three Measurement of Radiation
Interaction of Radiation with Matter
11. Alpha and Beta Particles
12. Gamma Rays
Detection of Radiation
13. Gas-Filled Detection Chambers
14. Solid State Detectors
15. Gamma-ray Spectra
Statistics of Radiation Measurement
16. Principles
17. Applications
Section Four Practical Radiochemistry
18. Radiochemical Carrier Chemistry
19. Radionuclides in Chemistry
20. Health Effects of Radiation
21. Nuclear Fission: History and Description
22. Nuclear Fission: Chemical Studies
23. Nuclear Reactors; Reactor Chemistry
24. Environmental Radiochemistry: Radionuclide Migration
25. High-level Nuclear Waste Disposal: The Problem
26. High-level Nuclear Waste Disposal in Canada
27. Hot Atom Chemistry
Section Five Theories of the Nucleus
28. Liquid Drop Theory of the Nucleus
29. Single Particle Shell Theory
30. Alpha Systematics
31. Beta Decay Theory
32. Gamma Decay Theory and the Use of Selection Rules
Appendices
I Summary of Units and Conversion Factors
II Nuclear Data
III Derivation of Some Formulas
IV Some Useful Sources