Electronic autoradiography of 133Ba particle emissions; diffusion profiles in granitic rocks

Eveliina Muuri; Tatiana Sorokina; Jérôme Donnard; Sophie Billon; Kerttuli Helariutta; Lasse Koskinen; Andrew Martin; Marja Siitari-Kauppi

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.04.026

Electronic autoradiography of ¹³³Ba particle emissions; diffusion profiles in granitic rocks

Appl Radiat Isot. 2019 Jul:149:108-113. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.04.026. Epub 2019 Apr 25.

Authors

Eveliina Muuri¹, Tatiana Sorokina², Jérôme Donnard³, Sophie Billon⁴, Kerttuli Helariutta², Lasse Koskinen⁵, Andrew Martin⁶, Marja Siitari-Kauppi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, A.I. Virtasen aukio 1, 00560, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: eveliina.muuri@helsinki.fi.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, A.I. Virtasen aukio 1, 00560, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Ai4r, 2 Rue Alfred Kastler, 44307, Nantes, France.
⁴ Department of Geosciences, University of Poitiers, UMR CNRS 7285 IC2MP, Rue Michel Brunet, 86022, Poitiers Cedex, France.
⁵ Posiva Oy, Finland.
⁶ Nagra (National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste), Wettingen, Switzerland.

PMID: 31048201
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.04.026

Abstract

The spatial distribution of barium activity in granitic rocks was measured with two autoradiography techniques; digital autoradiography using phosphor imaging plate technique (Fuji 5100) and filmless electronic autoradiography (i.e. The BeaQuant™), which is based on a gas detector incorporated in a micromesh Parallel Ionization Multiplier (PIM). Rock cubes taken from a diffusion experiment that were in contact with ¹³³Ba tracer were measured to determine diffusion profiles. In addition, the spatial distribution of ¹³³Ba in the samples was determined. Polymethyl methacrylate standards for ¹³³Ba were developed to determine the counting efficiency for electronic autoradiography. Good visual correlation between the two autoradiography methods were obtained in this study. The results of the experiments presented here can be utilized in future studies on the diffusion behavior of barium in granitic rocks.