Short-lived noble gas effluent trends from a research reactor

M. P. Dion; A. J. Conant; Kenneth J. Dayman; D. Glasgow; David Chandler

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107281

Short-lived noble gas effluent trends from a research reactor

M. P. Dion, A. J. Conant, Kenneth J. Dayman, D. Glasgow, David Chandler

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

An understanding of anthropogenic sources of radioactive noble gases in the atmosphere is needed to enhance the discrimination ability of the International Monitoring System's sensors. These sources include commercial and research nuclear reactors and medical isotope production facilities. While abiding by local environmental ordinances these facilities all emit noble gas radioisotopes through normal operation. This research presents measurements and analysis of noble gas isotopes (⁴¹Ar, ¹³⁵Xe, ^135mXe, ¹³⁷Xe, ¹³⁸Xe, ⁸⁷Kr, ⁸⁸Kr, and ⁸⁹Kr) made directly at the stack of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Xe and Kr noble gases are concurrently observed with ⁴¹Ar, a neutron activation product, when the reactor is operational. The magnitude of the Xe and Kr noble gases released is not constant over the HFIR cycle, but they temporally match the ⁴¹Ar trend. An isotope activity ratio analysis of these shorter lived isotopes combined with the observation of the cycle's temporal trend helps understand the noble gas production mechanism at the HFIR. Isotopes with short half-lives are not useful for long-range environmental monitoring. However, these measurements could potentially be combined with atmospheric modeling to predict the background source term of the longer-lived Xe ratios at a monitoring station.

Original language	English
Article number	107281
Journal	Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
Volume	270
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107281
State	Published - Dec 2023

Funding

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D). Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development ( DNN R&D ). Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Funders	Funder number
DNN R&D	DE-AC05-00OR22725
DOE Public Access Plan
Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development
U.S. Department of Energy
National Nuclear Security Administration

Keywords

Nuclear monitoring
Radioxenon
Research reactor

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10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107281

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title = "Short-lived noble gas effluent trends from a research reactor",

abstract = "An understanding of anthropogenic sources of radioactive noble gases in the atmosphere is needed to enhance the discrimination ability of the International Monitoring System's sensors. These sources include commercial and research nuclear reactors and medical isotope production facilities. While abiding by local environmental ordinances these facilities all emit noble gas radioisotopes through normal operation. This research presents measurements and analysis of noble gas isotopes (41Ar, 135Xe, 135mXe, 137Xe, 138Xe, 87Kr, 88Kr, and 89Kr) made directly at the stack of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Xe and Kr noble gases are concurrently observed with 41Ar, a neutron activation product, when the reactor is operational. The magnitude of the Xe and Kr noble gases released is not constant over the HFIR cycle, but they temporally match the 41Ar trend. An isotope activity ratio analysis of these shorter lived isotopes combined with the observation of the cycle's temporal trend helps understand the noble gas production mechanism at the HFIR. Isotopes with short half-lives are not useful for long-range environmental monitoring. However, these measurements could potentially be combined with atmospheric modeling to predict the background source term of the longer-lived Xe ratios at a monitoring station.",

keywords = "Nuclear monitoring, Radioxenon, Research reactor",

author = "Dion, {M. P.} and Conant, {A. J.} and Dayman, {Kenneth J.} and D. Glasgow and David Chandler",

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year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107281",

language = "English",

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AU - Conant, A. J.

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AU - Glasgow, D.

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PY - 2023/12

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AB - An understanding of anthropogenic sources of radioactive noble gases in the atmosphere is needed to enhance the discrimination ability of the International Monitoring System's sensors. These sources include commercial and research nuclear reactors and medical isotope production facilities. While abiding by local environmental ordinances these facilities all emit noble gas radioisotopes through normal operation. This research presents measurements and analysis of noble gas isotopes (41Ar, 135Xe, 135mXe, 137Xe, 138Xe, 87Kr, 88Kr, and 89Kr) made directly at the stack of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Xe and Kr noble gases are concurrently observed with 41Ar, a neutron activation product, when the reactor is operational. The magnitude of the Xe and Kr noble gases released is not constant over the HFIR cycle, but they temporally match the 41Ar trend. An isotope activity ratio analysis of these shorter lived isotopes combined with the observation of the cycle's temporal trend helps understand the noble gas production mechanism at the HFIR. Isotopes with short half-lives are not useful for long-range environmental monitoring. However, these measurements could potentially be combined with atmospheric modeling to predict the background source term of the longer-lived Xe ratios at a monitoring station.

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Short-lived noble gas effluent trends from a research reactor

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