Attachment behavior of fission products to solution aerosols

Attachment behavior of fission products to solution aerosol particles has been studied. Solution aerosols were produced from alkali halide solutions using an atomizer. The generated solution aerosol was classified by size and injected into a chamber in which spontaneous fission source of ²⁵²Cf was placed. The initial kinetic energies of fission products emitted into the chamber were varied by the number of Havor foils which were placed on the ²⁵²Cf source. The fission products emitted from the ²⁵²Cf source attached to the aerosol particles, and produced fission-product aerosol particles were collected on a polycarbonate filter. Attachment ratio of fission products to aerosol particles were estimated by photo peak areas obtained by gamma-ray spectrometry. It was found that the attachment ratios of ¹⁰⁴Tc with lower initial kinetic energy is smaller than those with higher energy. This difference may indicate that there are two different attachment process; one process arises as a consequence of geometric collision between an aerosol particle and fission product with high kinetic energy, and another is caused by electrostatic interaction between an aerosol surface and fission product in the vicinity of the surface. (author)