Particle induced X-ray emission-computed tomography analysis of an adsorbent for extraction chromatography

佐藤 隆博; 横山 彰人; 喜多村 茜; 大久保 猛; 石井 保行; 高畠 容子; 渡部 創; 駒 義和; 加田 渉*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 371, p.419 - 423, 2016/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2015.09.076

The cross-sectional distribution of neodymium (Nd) simulating minor actinides (MA) in a minute globular adsorbent of less than 50 m in diameter was measured using PIXE (particle induced X-ray emission)-CT (computed tomography) with a 3-MeV proton microbeam for the investigation of residual MA in extraction chromatography of spent fast reactor fuel. The measurement area was 100 100 m corresponding to 128 128 pixels of projection images. The adsorbent target was placed on an automatic rotation stage with 9 step. Forty projections of the adsorbent were finally measured, and image reconstruction was carried out by the modified ML-EM (maximum likelihood expectation maximization) method. As a result, the cross-sectional distribution of Nd in the adsorbent was successfully observed, and it was first revealed that Nd remained in the region corresponding to internal cavities of the adsorbent even after an elution process. This fact implies that the internal structure of the adsorbent must be modified for the improvement of the recovery rate of MA.