[en] This booklet was assembled by the Committee on Training of Nuclear and Radiochemists of the Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology of the American Chemical Society as an aid to students interested in graduate studies in nuclear chemistry, radiochemistry, and related disciplines. The program descriptions contained herein were solicited from, and provided by, members of the Division. For additional information about graduate work, students are encouraged to contact the person designated at the bottom of each one-page description. The Directory of Graduate Research, published by the American Chemical Society, may also prove helpful in selecting an institution for graduate study

[en] Experiments investigate the possibility that deep inelastic collisions may result in the synthesis of very heavy elements in heavy ion reactions with heavy targets. The extent of mass transfer from the projectile to the target nucleus was studied by radiochemically measuring the production of transplutonium elements in the reaction of ⁴⁰Ar, ⁴⁸Ca, ⁸⁶Kr, and ¹³⁶Xe with thick, enriched ²³⁸U targets. The production and survival of isotopes of Es, Fm, and Md were of particular interest since their presence would indicate that fairly large mass transfers had occurred at relative low excitation energies. The cross sections for the isotopes observed are tabulated. 3 tables

[en] In 1979 a survey was conducted by the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology to assess the status of the supply and demand for nuclear chemists and radiochemists. The results of the survey indicated that demand would exceed supply as early as the mid-1980's and cited several reasons for the expected shortage. In response to the survey, the Division established a Summer School in Nuclear Chemistry. This undergraduate fellowship program was designed to be an intensive six-week lecture and laboratory course in nuclear and radiochemistry for 12 students. The first Summer School was held at the San Jose State University in 1984 and in 1989 the program expanded to a second site at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The concept, format, and success of the Summer School program will be described

[en] The fragment energies of about 725 coincidence events have now been observed in the spontaneous fission (SF) decay of 105-min ²⁵⁹Md since its discovery in 1977. The fission of ²⁵⁹Md is characterized by a symmetric mass distribution, similar to those of ²⁵⁸Fm and ²⁵⁹Fm, but with a broad total kinetic energy (anti TKE) distribution which peaks at about 195 MeV, in contrast to those of ²⁵⁸Fm and ²⁵⁹Fm, for which the anti TKE is about 240 MeV. This kinetic energy deficit, approx. 40 MeV, has been postulated to be due to the emission of hydrogen-like particles by ²⁵⁹Md at the scission point in a large fraction of the fissions, leaving the residual fissioning nucleus with 100 protons. The residual nucleus would then be able to divide into two ultrastable tin-like fission fragments, but with less kinetic energy than that observed in the SF of ²⁵⁸Fm and ²⁵⁹Fm, because of binding-energy losses and a reduction in the Coulomb repulsion of the major fragments. To test this hypothesis, counter-telescope experiments aimed at detecting and identifying these light particles were performed. In 439 SF events 3 + 3 protons of the appropriate energy were observed, too few to account for the kinetic energy deficit in the fission of ²⁵⁹Md. There seems to be no explanation for this problem within the framework of current fission theory. These results are discussed along with preliminary measurements of light-particle emission in the SF of ²⁵⁶Fm. 5 figures

[en] We have developed instrumentation capable of measuring optical absorption spectra over a wavelength range of 200--1200 nm and a temperature range of 20--100 degree C. This fiber-optic based spectrometer generates data which allow the computation of metal-ligand equilibrium constants. Studies at five temperatures have been completed using praseodymium-diglycolate as a model system. Fundamental thermodynamic values (free energies, enthalpies, entropies) were obtained from the experimentally-determined stability constants. Thermodynamic data pertinent to the interactions of actinides and long-lived fission products with groundwater, waste package components, and geologic media are critical input to modeling programs. 9 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs

[en] A simple, yet highly reproducible separation procedure for isolating low levels of protactinium (pico- to micrograms) from gram quantities of natural or activated soils or sediments was developed. The reliability is achieved by minimizing the tendency of Pa to hydrolyze or to form colloids by keeping it complexed at all times either by fluoride or sulfate ions. The procedure consistently gives high chemical yields (85+8%) and the final fractions are not only radiochemically pure, but show little or no visible mass contamination with evaporation. (author)

[en] A systematic difference between the x-ray energies emitted by the daughter atom produced in electron-capture radioactive decay and the usual ''characteristic'' x-ray energies produced by electron bombardment or photoemission is noted. Particularly, enhanced differences are predicted for certain elements, and some measurements demonstrating this effect are presented

[en] The hydrated radii and hydration numbers of the trivalent irons of Am, Cm, Cf, Es, Fm and Md have been derived from the measured migration velocities of these ions in an electric potential field and from Stokes' law. The migration velocities in several concentrations of aqueous perchlorate were determined and a minimum mobility, corresponding to maximum hydration, was observed for the ions of Cf and Es. We interpret our results in terms of changes in hydration, coordination number, ionic radius and ion formation with electrolyte composition and atomic number. Our actinide results are compared with lanthanide data. (author)

[en] Equilibrium shapes and fission barriers of rotating nuclei have been calculated using a macroscopic two-center model, with a finite-range nuclear force and a diffuse nuclear surface. Our model differs from the rotating-liquid-drop model of Cohen, Plasil, and Swiatecki in the shape parametrization and in the calculations of the surface, Coulomb, and rotational energies. We use the two-center-model shape parametrization, which allows for triaxial shape variations and a continuous transition from one-center to two-center shapes with a smooth neck. We calculate the surface energy with the Yukawa-plus-exponential folding function of Krappe, Nix, and Sierk, which incorporates the effects of the finite range of the nuclear force and the diffuse nuclear surface, and calculate both the Coulomb and rotational energies with surface diffuseness described by a Yukawa folding function. The calculation includes beta-stable nuclei up to mass number A = 250 and selected nuclei off the line of beta stability. The results are compared with the predictions of the rotating-liquid-drop model and with experimental results statistically deduced from heavy-ion induced reactions

[en] The authors have developed a spinning wheel analyzer of millisecond isotopes (SWAMI), an instrument to measure the kinetic energy of fission-fragment pairs from the spontaneous fission (SF) of millisecond isotopes. This instrument employs a continuous band of thin, aluminum foils mounted at the perimeter of a spinning wheel to stop and retain recoil products produced during continuous, heavy-ion bombardment of heavy, actinide targets. The rotation of the wheel moves the implanted reaction products past four pairs of surface-barrier detectors, where the energies of correlated fission fragments are measured. With this instrument, they can determine the mass and total kinetic energy (TKE) distributions for isotopes with half-lives between 0.5 and 300 ms. To date, they have used SWAMI to measure the mass and TKE distributions for two nuclides, 20-ms ²⁶⁰[104] and 1.2-ms ²⁵⁸No