Krypton-85 chronometry of spent nuclear fuel

Greg Balco, Andrew J. Conant, Dallas D. Reilly, Dallin Barton, Chelsea D. Willett, Brett H. Isselhardt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We describe the use of the radionuclide 85Kr, which is produced by nuclear fission and has a half-life of 10.76 years, to determine the age of spent nuclear fuel. The method is based on mass-spectrometric measurement of the relative abundance of fissiogenic Kr isotopes extracted from a fuel sample, and we show that it can be applied to micron-scale particles of spent fuel that are analogous to particles that have been released into the environment from various nuclear facilities in the past. 85Kr chronometry is potentially valuable for identifying and attributing nuclear materials, grouping samples into collections of common origin that can be used to reconstruct the origin and irradiation history of the material, and verifying declared nuclear activities in the context of international monitoring programs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)571-584
Number of pages14
JournalGeochronology
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 25 2024

Funding

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

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