No abstract

Unexpected reactor accidents and radioisotope production and consumption have led to a continuous increase in the global-scale contamination of radionuclides. In particular, anthropogenic radioiodine has become critical due to its highly volatile mobilization and recycling in global environments, resulting in widespread, negative impact on nature. We report a novel biostimulant method to effectively scavenge radioiodine that exhibits remarkable selectivity for the highly difficult-to-capture radioiodine of >500-fold over other anions, even under circumneutral pH. We discovered a useful mechanism by which microbially reducible copper (i.e., Cu2+ to Cu+) acts as a strong binder for iodide-iodide anions to form a crystalline halide salt of CuI that is highly insoluble in wastewater. The biocatalytic crystallization of radioiodine is a promising way to remove radioiodine in a great capacity with robust growth momentum, further ensuring its long-term stability through nuclear I− fixation via microcrystal formation.

No abstract

An acceleration mechanism to generate a high energy proton beam with a narrow energy spread in the laser-induced plasma acceleration of a proton beam is proposed; this mechanism employs two thin foils separated by a narrow vacuum gap. Instead of a thin sheath field at the plasma surfaces, it utilizes an electrostatic field formed in the bulk of the plasma. From a one-dimensional fluid analysis, it has been found that with an appropriate target thickness, protons on the front surface of the second layer can be fed into the plasma, in which the protons are accelerated by an electrostatic field built into the bulk of the plasma. This leads to a proton beam with higher energy and a narrower energy spread than those accelerated at the rear surface of the second layer. The acceleration mechanism is also verified by a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. With a 27-fs long and 2×1019 W/cm2 intense laser pulse, a proton beam with an 18-MeV peak energy and a 35% energy spread is generated. The peak energy is higher than that from the rear surface of the second layer by a factor of 3.

Fast neutrons were generated from a deuterated polystyrene (C8D8) solid-target irradiated by a high-intensity laser. A TOF neutron signal is analyzed in detail. A neutron yield of 1206 n/pulse is estimated from a CR-39 neutron detection, and a maximum deuterium ion energy of 76 keV is measured from a Faraday cup signal. The employed laser has a 27-fs pulse width and a 260-mJ pulse energy.