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At least 757 records · Page 42

Removal of TcO 4 – from Representative Nuclear Waste Streams with Layered Potassium Metal Sulfide Materials

Many efforts have focused on the sequestration and immobilization of 99Tc because the radionuclide is highly mobile in oxidizing environments and presents serious health risks due to its radiotoxicity and long half-life (t1/2 = 213 000 a). One of the more common methods for Tc removal from solution and immobilization in solids is based on reducing Tc from highly soluble Tc(VII) to sparingly soluble Tc(IV). In order to remove solution Tc through this reduction process, the Tc-sequestering solid must contain a reducing agent and, ideally, the Tc-sequestering material would function in a large range of chemical environments. For long-term stability, the reduced Tc would preferentially be incorporated into the resulting mineral structure instead of simply being sorbed onto the mineral surface. Here, we report results obtained from batch sorption experiments performed in anoxic and oxic conditions with two sulfide-containing potassium metal sulfide (KMS) materials, known as KMS-2 and KMS-2-SS. In deionized water in anoxic conditions after 15 d of contact, KMS-2 is capable of removing ~45% of Tc and KMS-2-SS is capable of removing ~90% of Tc. The improved performance of KMS-2-SS compared to KMS-2 in deionized water in anoxic conditions appears to be linked both to a higher pH resulting from the batch sorption experiments performed with KMS-2-SS and a higher overall purity of KMS-2-SS. Both materials perform even better in highly caustic (pH~13.5), high ionic strength (8.0 M) simulated Hanford low-activity waste solutions, removing more than 90% Tc after 15 d of contact in anoxic conditions. Post-reaction solids analysis indicate that Tc(VII) is reduced to Tc(IV) and that Tc(IV) is bonded to S atoms in the resulting KMS-2 structure in a Tc2S7 form. In contrast to previous ion exchange experiments with other KMS materials, the batch sorption experiments examining Tc removal cause the initially crystalline KMS materials to lose much of their initial long-range order.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Dynamics of nuclear single-particle structure in covariant theory of particle-vibration coupling: From light to superheavy nuclei

The impact of particle-vibration coupling and polarization effects due to deformation and time-odd mean fields on single-particle spectra is studied systematically in doubly magic nuclei from low-mass {sup 56}Ni up to superheavy ones. Particle-vibration coupling is treated fully self-consistently within the framework of the relativistic particle-vibration coupling model. Polarization effects due to deformation and time-odd mean field induced by odd particle are computed within covariant density functional theory. It has been found that among these contributions the coupling to vibrations makes a major impact on the single-particle structure. The impact of particle-vibration coupling and polarization effects on calculated single-particle spectra, the size of the shell gaps, the spin-orbit splittings and the energy splittings in pseudospin doublets is discussed in detail; these physical observables are compared with experiment. Particle-vibration coupling has to be taken into account when model calculations are compared with experiment since this coupling is responsible for observed fragmentation of experimental levels; experimental spectroscopic factors are reasonably well described in model calculations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Search for a hidden strange baryon-meson bound state from Φ production in a nuclear medium

We investigate the hidden strange light baryon-meson system. With the resonating-group method, two bound states, η'-N and Φ-N, are found in the quark delocalization color screening model. Focusing on the Φ-N bound state around 1950 MeV, we obtain the total decay width of about 4 MeV by calculating the phase shifts in the resonance scattering processes. To study the feasibility of an experimental search for the Φ-N bound state, we perform a Monte Carlo simulation of the bound state production with an electron beam and a gold target. In the simulation, we use the CLAS12 detector with the Forward Tagger and the BONUS12 detector in Hall B at Jefferson Lab. Both the signal and the background channels are estimated. We demonstrate that the signal events can be separated from the background with some momentum cuts. Therefore it is feasible to experimentally search for the Φ-N bound state through the near threshold Φ meson production from heavy nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Observation of D 0 meson nuclear modifications in Au + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV

We report the first measurement of charmed-hadron (D 0 ) production via the hadronic decay channel (D 0 → K - + π + ) in Au + Au collisions at √ s NN = 200 GeV with the STAR experiment. The charm production cross section per nucleon-nucleon collision at midrapidity scales with the number of binary collisions, N bin , from p + p to central Au + Au collisions. The D 0 meson yields in central Au + Au collisions are strongly suppressed compared to those in p + p scaled by N bin , for transverse momenta p T > 3 GeV/c, demonstrating significant energy loss of charm quarks in the hot and dense medium. Here, an enhancement at intermediate p T is also observed. Model calculations including strong charm-medium interactions and coalescence hadronization describe our measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Effects of surface initial condition on aqueous corrosion of glass-A study with a model nuclear waste glass

Being a nonequilibrium material, the structure of glass varies with the sample history. Thus, the initial surface condition of a glass can vary with the preparation condition and have a large impact on its reactivity. This paper shows that the aqueous corrosion behavior of international simple glass (ISG) varies depending on the initial surface state. The ISG glass samples were prepared as-polished-only and polished-then-annealed and they were immersed in aqueous solution saturated with soluble SiO 2 at 30°C (modeling a mild condition) and at 90°C (modeling a severe condition). Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to obtain coordination numbers of network formers of ISG to assist oxygen speciation calculations. The surface structures of as-prepared and corroded ISG samples were analyzed using various imaging and spectroscopic techniques. Among these analyses, only the oxygen speciation with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed discernable differences between two uncorroded surfaces with different preparation histories; all other methods could not differentiate the surface preparation history before aqueous corrosion. Such minor difference in chemical structures was found to have a profound impact on corrosion behaviors in the mild condition. In the harsh condition, the surface history dependence was not as drastic as the corrosion in the mild condition. The analysis results of the corroded surfaces suggested that the thickness and structure of the alteration layer formed on ISG in aqueous corrosion can vary with the initial surface state.

nuclear, defects, corrosion↗