ARI MA: "Green" Aqueous Liquid Scintillator for Nuclear Materials Interdiction

Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

1039102 Martoff This proposal is for an interdisciplinary research effort of experimental work to develop a dilute aqueous "green" liquid scintillator. The proposed scintillator is based on an entirely new mechanism taking advantage of the high chemical-energy content of OH-radicals which are copiously produced in water by radiation interactions. The research approach is to identify compounds which are reactive with OH radicals to form excited states of known fluorescent products, or are susceptible to use as sensitizers in dye-sensitizer systems. Preliminary results have already shown weak light output from one model system in response to OH radical reactions. Such a dilute aqueous scintillator would result in significant reduction in mixed waste (radioactive hazardous chemical mixtures) production in biomedical applications of liquid scintillation counting for tracer work; and also dramatic cost savings in large scintillation detectors such as those used for portal monitoring or as vetoes/buffers in low background experiments conducted underground. "Green" liquid scintillator suitable for widespread deployment in large volume gamma ray and neutron screening detectors. The scintillator is "green" because it is a dilute water solution, unlike the toxic, flammable benzenoid systems of conventional liquid scintillators. The proposed research would enhance the nation's threat detection posture. Aqueous scintillators would also be highly useful in biomedical applications involving "liquid scintillation counting", where they would ease or eliminate the mixed waste problem encountered in this technique. Graduate and undergraduate students at Temple University, an urban research university with substantial minority enrollment, would be actively involved in the research.