[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF ISAC Seminar today at 13:30

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Wed Jul 4 05:00:00 PDT 2007


Date/Time: Wed 2007-07-04 at 13:30

Location:  Auditorium          

Speaker:   Goetz Ruprecht (TRIUMF)

Title:     Can radioactive waste be removed by cooling?

Abstract: Since last year (2006), it has been frequently stated in public [1,2,3] by a research group from Bochum, Germany, that half-lives of radioactive isotopes change considerably (up to orders of magnitude) if they are embedded in a metal lattice and cooled to cryogenic temperatures (a few Kelvin).  It was subsequently proposed to use cooling in a metallic environment for the disposal of long-lived alpha-activity as, e.g., found in nuclear reactor waste.  The same group has presented three measurements published in refereed journals, reporting half-life changes for the radionuclides Na-22 [4], Au-198 [5], and Po-210 [6] when they are embedded in a metal and cooled to about 10 K.  From the results, a trend in the range of one to several percent is visible, though with some statistical uncertainty and not yet confirmed by any other group.  The first precise half-life measurements of two of these radionuclides, Na-22 and Au-198, have now been performed at TRIUMF, each embedded in a metal and cooled to a few K, and will be presented in this talk.  From the results, the consequences for the proposed radioactive waste removal are obvious.

[1] Nature news, http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060731/full/060731-13.html
[2] New Scientist 2574, 36 (2006)
[3] Nuclear Physics News 16, 9 (2006), http://www.nupecc.org/npn/npn162.pdf
[4] Limata, B., et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 28, 251(2006)
[5] Spillane, T., et al. Eur. Phys. J. A 31, 203 (2007)
[6] Raiola, F. et al., Eur. Phys. J. A, DOI: 10.1140/epja/i2007-10012-8




Stimulants will be available 15 minutes before the talk.

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