LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Large Sample NAA and Bio-Medical

Applications at the Tandem accelerator

F. Tzika, D. Vasilopoulou, D. Kontogeorgakos, A. Savidou

and I.E. Stamatelatos

Research Reactor Laboratory

Institute of Nuclear Technology & Radiation Protection,

NCSR "Demokritos", Greece

ΔΗΜΟΚΡΙΤΟΣΔΗΜΟΚΡΙΤΟΣ

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Motivation

Presentation of an outline of our group’s research activities at the Research Nuclear Reactor Laboratory

Explore possibilities of interaction between our group and the TANDEM accelerator laboratory through LIBRA

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Research Activities

• Biomedical applications of INAA (extra-cellular body space in children with severe burn trauma, serum aluminum levels in patients in chronic renal dialysis)

• Development of a Large Sample NAA method at the research reactor for cultural heritage, environmental and industrial applications

• Large Sample Prompt Gamma NAA methods using isotopic neutron sources for small animal body composition studies and Non-Destructive Testing of materials

• Monte Carlo simulations for criticality safety, radioactive waste management and radiation protection and nuclear instrument design

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Unique Applications:

• Analysis of precious objects (i.e. cultural heritage studies)

• Analysis of inhomogeneous samples (sediment, e-waste)

• Industrial (analysis of whole components)

Large Sample Neutron Activation Analysis

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

LSNAA method

SampleDetectorShield Collimated

transmission sourceshieldHPGe

Detector

Thermal neutron self-shielding within the sample

Tzika et al, 2005

0.1 1.0 10.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

MCNP calculated

f

r h/(r+h)

HPGe detector efficiency

20cm

40cm

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

LSNAA of a ceramic vase

Experiment performed at Reactor Institute Delft

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Radiological Characterization of materials for Fusion

Nucl. Instr. Meth B, 2005

4D T He n

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

10-14

10-11

10-8

10-5

10-2

101

104

107

this work Forest pure SiC

f/SiC

D

ose

Ra

te (

Sv/

h)

Time (years)

Hands-on limit

Recycling limit

• Elemental composition of first wall material (+ trace element impurities) SiC/SiC and EUROFER experimentally determined by NAA

• Neutron spectrum at the first wall of a fusion device calculated using MCNP code

Contact dose-rate decay prediction using EASY code after 5 y of irradiation at 1 MW/m2 load

SiCf/SiC

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Large Sample Prompt-Gamma NAA using isotopic sources

HPGe NaI(Tl)Sample

Source(a,n)

LeadCH2-B CH2-B-Pb

Graphite

60 cm

25 cm40 cm

80 cm

HPGe NaI(Tl)Sample

Source(a,n)

LeadCH2-B CH2-B-Pb

GraphiteLeadCH2-B CH2-B-Pb

Graphite

60 cm

25 cm40 cm

60 cm

25 cm40 cm

80 cm

Element Prompt (MeV)

Reaction

N 10.83 14N(n, )15N

Ca 6.42 40Ca(n, )41Ca

Cl 6.11 35Cl(n, )36Cl

H 2.22 1H(n, )2H

Nucl. Instr. Meth B, 2007

Small animal body composition studies

Water

Fat

Protein

Bone ash

Four compartment model

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Body Composition: Advanced Compartment Models

Compartment Measured Element

Reaction Method

Protein (=6.25xN) N 14N(n, )15N,

E=10.83 MeV

PGNAA

Extra-cellular space Cl 35Cl(n, )36Cl

E=6.11 MeV

PGNAA

Bone ash Ca 40Ca(n, )41Ca

E=6.42 MeV

PGNAA

Intra-cellular space K 40K natural radioactivity E=1.46 MeV

WBC

Total Water - - 2H20 or 3H20 dilution

Muscle mass* P 31P(n, a)28Al

E=1.778 MeV, t1/2=2.3 m

DGNAA at TANDEM

Total body fat C 12C(n, n)12C

E=4.43 MeV

Inelastic scatter gamma ray analysis at TANDEM

Total body Oxygen O 16O(n, n)16O

E=6.13 MeV

Inelastic scatter gamma ray analysis at TANDEM

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Optimization

Monte Carlo simulations for optimization of experimental setup Irradiation geometry Detector position and response Radiation shielding

from O’Meara et al 2001

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Complementarities

High thermal neutron fluxes (up to 1014 cm-2s-1)

Large irradiation volumes (i.e. up to 0.2 l in-core or up to 5 l at the thermal neutron column)

Exploitation of the thermal neutron capture reactions cross-sections

Reactor

Accelerator

“Fast neutron” activation analysis (14N(n,2n)13N, 31P(n,a)28Al)

Neutron inelastic scattering gamma analysis 12C(n,n’γ)12C, 16O(n,n’γ)16O

Penetration of fast neutrons in materials for LSNAA

LIBRA Kick-off meeting, March 11, 2009

Thank you for your attention!