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Transmutation flow between 238Pu and 244Cm in LWR.[1] Fission percentage is 100 minus shown percentages. Total rate of transmutation varies greatly by nuclide. 245Cm–248Cm are long-lived with negligible decay.
Minor actinides in the periodic table
Hydrogen
Helium
Lithium
Beryllium
Boron
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Fluorine
Neon
Sodium
Magnesium
Aluminium
Silicon
Phosphorus
Sulfur
Chlorine
Argon
Potassium
Calcium
Scandium
Titanium
Vanadium
Chromium
Manganese
Iron
Cobalt
Nickel
Copper
Zinc
Gallium
Germanium
Arsenic
Selenium
Bromine
Krypton
Rubidium
Strontium
Yttrium
Zirconium
Niobium
Molybdenum
Technetium
Ruthenium
Rhodium
Palladium
Silver
Cadmium
Indium
Tin
Antimony
Tellurium
Iodine
Xenon
Caesium
Barium
Lanthanum
Cerium
Praseodymium
Neodymium
Promethium
Samarium
Europium
Gadolinium
Terbium
Dysprosium
Holmium
Erbium
Thulium
Ytterbium
Lutetium
Hafnium
Tantalum
Tungsten
Rhenium
Osmium
Iridium
Platinum
Gold
Mercury (element)
Thallium
Lead
Bismuth
Polonium
Astatine
Radon
Francium
Radium
Actinium
Thorium
Protactinium
Uranium
Neptunium
Plutonium
Americium
Curium
Berkelium
Californium
Einsteinium
Fermium
Mendelevium
Nobelium
Lawrencium
Rutherfordium
Dubnium
Seaborgium
Bohrium
Hassium
Meitnerium
Darmstadtium
Roentgenium
Copernicium
Nihonium
Flerovium
Moscovium
Livermorium
Tennessine
Oganesson
Major actinides in the periodic table
Hydrogen
Helium
Lithium
Beryllium
Boron
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Fluorine
Neon
Sodium
Magnesium
Aluminium
Silicon
Phosphorus
Sulfur
Chlorine
Argon
Potassium
Calcium
Scandium
Titanium
Vanadium
Chromium
Manganese
Iron
Cobalt
Nickel
Copper
Zinc
Gallium
Germanium
Arsenic
Selenium
Bromine
Krypton
Rubidium
Strontium
Yttrium
Zirconium
Niobium
Molybdenum
Technetium
Ruthenium
Rhodium
Palladium
Silver
Cadmium
Indium
Tin
Antimony
Tellurium
Iodine
Xenon
Caesium
Barium
Lanthanum
Cerium
Praseodymium
Neodymium
Promethium
Samarium
Europium
Gadolinium
Terbium
Dysprosium
Holmium
Erbium
Thulium
Ytterbium
Lutetium
Hafnium
Tantalum
Tungsten
Rhenium
Osmium
Iridium
Platinum
Gold
Mercury (element)
Thallium
Lead
Bismuth
Polonium
Astatine
Radon
Francium
Radium
Actinium
Thorium
Protactinium
Uranium
Neptunium
Plutonium
Americium
Curium
Berkelium
Californium
Einsteinium
Fermium
Mendelevium
Nobelium
Lawrencium
Rutherfordium
Dubnium
Seaborgium
Bohrium
Hassium
Meitnerium
Darmstadtium
Roentgenium
Copernicium
Nihonium
Flerovium
Moscovium
Livermorium
Tennessine
Oganesson
A minor actinide is an actinide, other than uranium or plutonium, found in spent nuclear fuel. The minor actinides include neptunium (element 93), americium (element 95), curium (element 96), berkelium (element 97), californium (element 98), einsteinium (element 99), and fermium (element 100).[2] The most important isotopes of these elements in spent nuclear fuel are neptunium-237, americium-241, americium-243, curium-242 through -248, and californium-249 through -252.
Plutonium and the minor actinides will be responsible for the bulk of the radiotoxicity and heat generation of spent nuclear fuel in the long term (300 to 20,000 years in the future).[3]
The plutonium from a power reactor tends to have a greater amount of plutonium-241 than the plutonium generated by the lower burnup operations designed to create weapons-grade plutonium. Because the reactor-grade plutonium contains so much 241Pu, the presence of 241Am makes the plutonium less suitable for making a nuclear weapon. The ingrowth of americium in plutonium is one of the methods for identifying the origin of an unknown sample of plutonium and the time since it was last separated chemically from the americium.
Americium is commonly used in industry as both an alpha particle source and as a low photon-energy gamma radiation source. For example, it is commonly used in smoke detectors. Americium can be formed by neutron capture of 239Pu and 240Pu, forming 241Pu which then beta decays to 241Am.[4] In general, as the energy of the neutrons increases, the ratio of the fission cross section to the neutron capture cross section changes in favour of fission. Hence, if MOX is used in a thermal reactor such as a boiling water reactor (BWR) or pressurized water reactor (PWR) then more americium can be expected to be found in the spent fuel than in that from a fast neutron reactor.[5]
Some of the minor actinides have been found in fallout from bomb tests. See Actinides in the environment for details.
Transuranics in LWR spent fuel (burnup 55 GWdth/T) and mean neutron consumption via fission[6]
Isotope
Fraction
DLWR
Dfast
Dsuperthermal
237 Np
0.0539
1.12
−0.59
−0.46
238 Pu
0.0364
0.17
−1.36
−0.13
239 Pu
0.451
−0.67
−1.46
−1.07
240 Pu
0.206
0.44
−0.96
0.14
241 Pu
0.121
−0.56
−1.24
−0.86
242 Pu
0.0813
1.76
−0.44
1.12
241 Am
0.0242
1.12
−0.62
−0.54
242m Am
0.000088
0.15
−1.36
−1.53
243 Am
0.0179
0.82
−0.60
0.21
243 Cm
0.00011
−1.90
−2.13
−1.63
244 Cm
0.00765
−0.15
−1.39
−0.48
245 Cm
0.000638
−1.48
−2.51
−1.37
Weighted sum
−0.03
−1.16
−0.51
Negative numbers mean net neutron producer
^Sasahara, Akihiro; Matsumura, Tetsuo; Nicolaou, Giorgos; Papaioannou, Dimitri (April 2004). "Neutron and Gamma Ray Source Evaluation of LWR High Burn-up UO2 and MOX Spent Fuels". Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology. 41 (4): 448–456. doi:10.3327/jnst.41.448.
^Moyer, Bruce A. (2009). Ion Exchange and Solvent Extraction: A Series of Advances, Volume 19. CRC Press. p. 120. ISBN 9781420059700.
^Stacey, Weston M. (2007). Nuclear Reactor Physics. John Wiley & Sons. p. 240. ISBN 9783527406791.
^Raj, Gurdeep (2008). Advanced Inorganic Chemistry Vol-1, 31st ed. Krishna Prakashan Media. p. 356. ISBN 9788187224037.
^Berthou, V.; et al. (2003). "Transmutation characteristics in thermal and fast neutron spectra: application to americium" (PDF). Journal of Nuclear Materials. 320 (1–2): 156–162. Bibcode:2003JNuM..320..156B. doi:10.1016/S0022-3115(03)00183-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2013-03-31.
^Etienne Parent (2003). "Nuclear Fuel Cycles for Mid-Century Deployment" (PDF). MIT. p. 104. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-25.
A minoractinide is an actinide, other than uranium or plutonium, found in spent nuclear fuel. The minoractinides include neptunium (element 93), americium...
excesses. In addition to plutonium, the amounts of minoractinides are also increasing. These actinides have to be consequently disposed in a safe, ecological...
Actinides in the periodic table The actinide (/ˈæktɪnaɪd/) or actinoid (/ˈæktɪnɔɪd/) series encompasses at least the 14 metallic chemical elements in the...
is difficult. Spent reactor fuel contains traces of the minoractinides. These are actinides other than uranium and plutonium and include neptunium, americium...
into uranium-based and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels. The residual 4% is minoractinides and fission products, the latter of which are a mixture of stable and...
the minoractinides neptunium, americium, curium, berkelium, and californium, including other isotopes of uranium and plutonium and other actinides. Handbook...
plutonium and much less minoractinides, but 232 U - or rather its decay products - are a major gamma ray emitter. All actinides are fertile or fissile...
these basic design types may be fueled by uranium, plutonium, many minoractinides, or thorium, and they may be designed for many different goals, such...
Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract...
and atomic number 95. It is radioactive and a transuranic member of the actinide series in the periodic table, located under the lanthanide element europium...
United States Methyl anthranilate, used as a bird repellent Minoractinides, the actinide elements in used nuclear fuel other than uranium and plutonium...
(from stainless steel pipework), green are the major actinides, violet are the minoractinides and magenta is the neutron poison) Currently PUREX raffinate...
capabilities. MADB – The Minoractinide property database is a bibliographic database of physico-chemical properties of selected minoractinide compounds and alloys...
chemical element; it has symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This transuranic actinide element was named after eminent scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, both...
nuclear properties. It is the chemistry of radioactive elements such as the actinides, radium and radon together with the chemistry associated with equipment...
include nonfissile isotopes of plutonium and minoractinide isotopes. Assuming no leakage of actinides to the waste stream during reprocessing, a 1GWe...
and spectrometers. Bose–Einstein condensate (also known as superatom) Minoractinide Deep geological repository, a place to deposit transuranic waste Pluto...
fast-neutron reactor, the minoractinides produced by neutron capture of uranium and plutonium can be used as fuel. Metal actinide fuel is typically an alloy...
decarboxylase, an enzyme Acronyms Myanma Agricultural Development Bank Minoractinide property database Integrated Nuclear Fuel Cycle Information System#Modules...
National Labs' Performance Assessment of Deep Boreholes Sizer/MIT Thesis - MinorActinide Waste Disposal in Deep Geological Boreholes 2010 NEI Deep Borehole Article...
chemistry to refer to any element other than hydrogen and helium. Minoractinides – Actinides found in significant quantities in nuclear fuel, other than U...
and used once as MOX fuel; spent MOX fuel, with a high proportion of minoractinides and plutonium isotopes, is stored as waste. Existing nuclear reactors...
abundance, superior physical and nuclear properties, reduced plutonium and actinide production, and better resistance to nuclear weapons proliferation when...