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Institute for Transuranium Elements

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The Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) is a European Commission nuclear research institute in Karlsruhe, Germany. The ITU is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission (EC). The ITU has about 300 staff. Its specialists have access to an extensive range of advanced facilities, many unavailable elsewhere in Europe.

Mission statement

The mission of ITU is to provide the scientific foundation for the protection of the European citizen against risks associated with the handling and storage of highly radioactive material. ITU’s prime objectives are to serve as a reference centre for basic actinide research, to contribute to an effective safety and safeguards system for the nuclear fuel cycle, and to study technological and medical applications of radionuclides/actinides.

Security

Normally entry for visitors to the ITU is by prior invitation only for security reasons; a person wishing to enter the site as a visitor will be required to hand over their passport, before passing through a combined metal and radiation detector. The details of the devices used to test visitors for radioactive and nuclear materials are not public knowledge (for security reasons). Also on entry visitors are subject to a search by a security officer. All bags are examined using an x-ray machine similar to that used in an airport. The effectiveness of any of these devices is unknown; no explosive devices have been smuggled in (or, at least, not exploded on the site), and nobody has been caught illegally removing radioactive materials from the site.

Activities

The work of the ITU can be divided into a series of smaller activities.

Alpha-immunotherapy

A cancer treatment involving the production of antibodies bearing alpha emitting radioisotopes which bind to cancer cells.[1] The idea is to create a "magic bullet" which will seek and destroy cancer where ever it is hidden within the body.[2] This treatment has reached clinical trials.

Bismuth-213 is one of the isotopes which has been used: this is made by the alpha decay of Ac-225. The production of short-lived isotopes from the decay of longer lived isotopes is very useful. This is similar to the generation of technetium-99m by a technetium cow. The actinium-225 is made by the irradiation of radium-226 with a cyclotron.

Basic actinide research

Work has included the superconductivity and magnetic properties of actinides (such as plutonium and americium).[3]

Safety of nuclear fuel

The ITU is involved in a range of different areas of research within this topic.[4]

Accidents

The ITU's work includes the study of fuel behaviour during 'out of control nuclear-reactor' conditions.

In the 2004 annual report from the ITU some results of the PIE on PHEBUS (FPT2) fuel are reported in section 3.6.[5][6] PHEBUS is a series of experiments where fuel was overheated and damaged under very strictly controlled conditions, in order to obtain data on what would happen in a serious nuclear power reactor accident.

Waste forms

The long term performance of waste and the systems designed to isolate it from man and his environment are studied here. For instance the corrosion of uranium dioxide is studied at the ITU.

Spent fuel characterisation

The ITU performs Post Irradiation Examination of spent nuclear fuel.

Partitioning and transmutation

Partitioning is the separation of nuclear wastes into different elements,[7] see nuclear reprocessing for more details. The ITU is involved in both aqueous and pyro separation methods. They have published papers on the DIAMEX process.[8][9]

See nuclear transmutation for details.

Measurement of Radioactivity in the environment

The ITU is funded by the European Union, and theoretically has no pronuclear or antinuclear policy. It exists to serve the interests of the whole of the EU. It is well equipped and is considered to be both trustworthy and competent by both the nuclear industry and the environmentalists (such as greenpeace).[citation needed] The ITU are able to examine environmental samples in order to decide if dangerous levels of radioactive contamination are present. For instance hot particles found on a beach in Scotland near Dounreay were examined at the ITU.

Much of this work is aimed at the measurement of very low levels of radioactivity; the ITU's analytical service uses ICP-MS to measure most radioactive isotopes with greater sensitivity than those possible with direct radiometric measurements.[10]

Nuclear safeguards

The ITU has a service which assists police and other law enforcement organisiations by examining any seized radioactive or nuclear material. Materials are analysed to discover what they are, where they come from, and what possible use they might have been.

NUCLEONICA

As of March 2011, a new JRC spin-off company, Nucleonica GmbH, has been created. This company was established by a former staff member to undertake the further development of the Nucleonica portal – a nuclear science web portal developed at the JRC’s Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU). The spin-off will also work towards the further development and distribution of the Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart (KNC). The KNC is an extended periodic table of elements, which displays all known isotopes of all atomic elements and their radioactive data. It provides scientists and students all over the world with structured, accurate information on the half-lives and decay modes of radionuclides, as well as the energies of emitted radiation.

The mission of Nucleonica is to be a First Stop Resource in Nuclear Science on the Digital Highway. Nucleonica is aimed at scientists and engineers involved in nuclear research, radiation professionals, university students and technicians, and in general anybody interested in the nuclear sciences. Nucleonica provides you with user-friendly access to the latest reference data from internationally evaluated nuclear data. A unique feature is the wide range of web-based nuclear science applications. A variety of social networking tools are provided for scientific collaboration. In addition, Nucleonica offers a range of introductory and advanced training courses in various areas of nuclear science. In the field of knowledge management, Nucleonica is an innovative resource for knowledge creation and competence building for the worldwide nuclear science community Reference. Together with its wiki, blog, and forum, the portal aims to become the leading online resource in the nuclear sciences and is particularly suitable for education and training of young scientists, engineers and technicians in the nuclear domain. Our applications enable researchers and specialists to make complex and precise calculations in state-of-the-art fashion. Nucleonica has recently been endorsed by the SNETP: ‘Nucleonica plays … an important role in making nuclear education more attractive and in building nuclear knowledge for a new generation of engineers and scientists’ Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (www.snetp.eu)

A unique feature of the portal is the wide range of user friendly web-based nuclear science applications. The portal is also ideal for education and training purposes and as a knowledge management platform to preserve nuclear knowledge built up over many decades. The Nucleonica website and applications are supported by a dedicated nuclear science wiki – the NucleonicaWiki and NucleonicaBlog.

Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart

In addition to the NUCLEONICA website, the Institute for Transuranium Elements manages the various versions and editions of the Karlsruhe Nuclide Chart.

Other JRC sites

References

  1. ^ Methods. Itu.jrc.ec.europa.eu (2009-07-13). Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
  2. ^ Targeted Alpha-Radionuclide Therapy. Itu.jrc.ec.europa.eu (2009-07-13). Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
  3. ^ Griveau, J.C.; Rebizant, J.; Lander, G.H.; Kotliar, G. (2005). "Superconductivity in Americium Metal as a Function of Pressure: Probing the Mott Transition". Physical Review Letter. 94. ISSN 0972002. {{cite journal}}: Check |issn= value (help)
  4. ^ Nuclear Fuels. Itu.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
  5. ^ "ITU04_Vorspann_end. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
  6. ^ Topics. Itu.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
  7. ^ Partitioning. Itu.jrc.ec.europa.eu (2009-05-15). Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
  8. ^ Serrano, D.; Christiansen, B.; Glatz, J.P.; Modolo, R (2005). "Towards a DIAMEX Process Using High Active Concentrate. Production of Genuine Solutions". Radiochimica Acta. 93: 357–36. {{cite journal}}: |first5= missing |last5= (help)
  9. ^ Serrano, D.; Baron, P.; Christiansen, B.; Malmbeck, R.; Sorel, C.; Glatz, J.P. (2005). "Recovery of Minor Actinides from HLLW Using the DIAMEX Process". Radiochimica Acta. 93: 351–355.
  10. ^ Radioactivity in the Environment. Itu.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved on 2011-04-16.
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