Environmental Radioactivity Network

(Env-Rad-Net)

www.envradnet.co.uk @env_rad_net

Sam Shaw and Gareth Law

Env-Rad-Net Project Outline

Environmental Radioactivity

Research Grand Challenges

• Geodisposal o UK inventory ≈480,000m3

o GDF implementation in next 10-20 years

• Nuclear Decommissioning o Clean up of legacy waste over 50-100 years

o Est. cost £70+ billion

• Nuclear Incident/Accidents o Accidental release (e.g. Fukashima)

o Terrorists related incident (e.g. dirty bomb)

Network Objective

• Develop use of STFC facilities in UK environmental radioactivity

research community

Synchrotron Facilities –

Diamond & ESRF

Neutron Facilities –

ISIS & ILL

Central Lasers Facility (CLF) Scientific computing –

High Performance Computing

Synchrotron Radiation

Diamond Light Source & ESRF

• > 30 beamlines

• Wide variety of techniques:

• X-ray spectroscopy (e.g. EXAFS)

• X-ray diffraction

• X-ray scattering

• Magnetic studies

• X-ray/Infrared microscopy

• X-ray tomography

Synchrotron techniques

X-ray Spectroscopy

Element specific speciation analysis

(EXAFS, XANES)

o Oxidation state

o Detailed speciation e.g. adsorbed to

minerals, organic associated, discrete phase

o Quantification of speciation in

heterogeneous natural materials (e.g. soils)

o Analysis of radionuclides including U, Tc and

potentially Np. Analyse Pu at ESRF.

o Analysis at 10’s -100’s ppm and above

Synchrotron techniques

X-ray Diffraction and Scattering • Detailed analysis of crystalline phases

• Small angle scattering enables characterization of nanoparticles

X-ray Tomography • 3D and 4D imaging of virtually any

material

• Porosity and fracture mapping

• Micro or sub-micro resolution possible

• Chemical mapping in 3D

• Time-resolved analysis for flow analysis

Synchrotron techniques – Microscopy

X-ray Microscopy

• Microfocus XRF and spectroscopy

• 2-5 micron resolution

• XRF mapping at ppm level

• Microfocus X-ray spectroscopy allows speciation mapping

Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM)

• XRF and spectroscopic mapping at sub 100nm resolution

• Soft X-rays ideal for biological and organic materials

Infrared Microscopy

• Mapping at <15 micron resolution

Fe U As

Protein Polysaccharide Lipid

500 nm

Central Lasers Facility

• Provides UK scientists with access and

support in science using a large range

of state-of-the-art laser technology.

• Fluorescent / luminescent

microscopic imaging

• Raman/IR spectroscopy

• Spectroscopic imaging

• Analysis of radionuclide speciation at

very low concentrations (e.g. [U] and

[Np] 10-7-10-9 M)

• Optical trapping – individual cells or

mineral particles trapped and

analysed

Scientific Computing

• Support all research areas undertaking

computing research

Molecular modeling to global climate

Scientific Computing Department (SCD)

Divisions

• Data

• Systems

• Technology

• Applications

Support for all areas of computer

science/modeling

• Access to HPC facilities (e.g. HECToR)

• Code development

• Visualization

• Training

Network Activities

Workshops and meetings • Facility, technique or application focus

Funding Schemes • Project and technique development

• International research and collaboration

Training courses

Radioactive sample handling

Website: www.envradnet.co.uk

Project development and International T&S

• Applications through web form (no deadline).

• Project development to provide T&S support to help facilitate access and research on STFC facilities

o Meet key STFC scientists

o Application process

o Experiment preparation (sample prep, sample holders)

o Data analysis

o Handling radioactive materials on STFC facilities

• International T&S provides travel and subsistence to undertake research at international facilities equivalent to STFC’s in UK

o Aim to increase capability and expertise of the UK user community

Training

• Network Training Schools o 1 per year

o Env-Rad-Net Synchrotron Training

School at Diamond - Jan 2014

o Computer modeling (DL_POLY and

NWChem)

• Techniques focused

training courses o 2-3 day X-ray Tomography training

at University of Manchester

o X-ray Spectroscopy data analysis

training course late 2014

• Individual training courses o e.g. Tomography

Network Structure

Env-Rad-Net Support

• Meet with us to discuss opportunities at STFC

facilities

• Contact us at envradnet@manchester.ac.uk

International Travel and Subsistence Scheme

• Scheme launched June 2013

on website.

• Applications through web form

(no deadline) •

• Provides travel and subsistence

to undertake research at

international facilities

equivalent to STFC’s in UK

• Aim to increase capability and

expertise of the UK user

community

Dr Carolyn Peacre (Manchester)

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of clays to probe redox reactivity with Tc(VII) and U(VI)

Technique development and

radioactive sample handling

• Laser spectroscopy for low

concentration U spectroscopy

using CLF

• X-ray tomography for geological

samples

• Analysis of radioactive samples

on Diamond o Uranium including in situ experiments

o Tc on static samples

o Analysis of transuranic samples summer 2014