Uranium from German Nuclear Power Projects of the 1940s — A Nuclear Forensic Investigation

Author(s)

Klaus Mayer, Maria Wallenius, Klaus Lützenkirchen, Joan Hortha, Adrian Nicholl, Gert Rasmussen, Pieter van Belle, Zsolt Varga, Razvan Buda, Nicole Erdmann, Jens-Volker Kratz, Norbert Trautmann, L. Keith Fifield, Stephen G. Tims, Michaela Fröhlich, Peter Steier

Abstract

Here we present a nuclear forensic study of uranium from German nuclear projects which used different geometries of metallic uranium fuel.3b,d, 4 Through measurement of the

²³⁰Th/

²³⁴U ratio, we could determine that the material had been produced in the period from 1940 to 1943. To determine the geographical origin of the uranium, the rare-earth-element content and the

⁸⁷Sr/

⁸⁶Sr ratio were measured. The results provide evidence that the uranium was mined in the Czech Republic. Trace amounts of

²³⁶U and

²³⁹Pu were detected at the level of their natural abundance, which indicates that the uranium fuel was not exposed to any major neutron fluence.

Organisation(s)

Isotope Physics

External organisation(s)

Institute for Transuranium Elements, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Australian National University

Journal

Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)

Volume

54

Pages

13452-13456

No. of pages

5

ISSN

1433-7851

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201504874

Publication date

11-2015

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103013 Ion physics, 103014 Nuclear physics, 104020 Radiochemistry, 601022 Contemporary history

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry, Catalysis

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/e9518f00-35b2-49d8-b08b-e5829a03d879