SAMOP 2023 – scientific programme
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MS: Fachverband Massenspektrometrie
MS 8: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry III
MS 8.3: Talk
Friday, March 10, 2023, 11:45–12:00, F128
A new setup to characterise the tritium content of reactor graphite at Cologne-AMS — •Timm-Florian Pabst, Markus Schiffer, Gereon Hackenberg, Stefan Heinze, Martina Gwozdz, Alfred Dewald, and Dennis Mücher — Institute for Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Germany
There is approximately one kiloton of activated reactor graphite in Germany, mainly originating from research reactors and waiting for characterization and disposal. For storage in repositories like the mine Konrad, activity limits have to be considered. Reactor graphite has a complex radio nuclide vector with 3H and 14C as its main components.
We are aiming for a small AMS system dedicated for 3H measurement, by which gas is extracted from the reactor graphite and directly injected into a sputter ion source. Such a set-up is well suited for automated measurements and a high sample throughput. As a first step we expanded our ion source test bench at Cologne-AMS by a 100 kV tandem accelerator with a carbon stripper foil and a 90∘ analysing magnet followed by a multi-Faraday cup unit. The gas analyte is provided by heating the reactor graphite to approximately 1000∘C, enhancing the diffusion of 3H. Isobar molecules are suppressed by the tandem accelerator stage. A dedicated control system based on Siemens S7 programmable logic controllers and a LabVIEW based control software allows complete remote operation of all components of the setup.
In this contribution we will present the system layout as well as results of first test measurements with an H-beam regarding sample preparation, system transmission and molecular dissociation.