Development of nondestructive elemental analysis system for Hayabusa2 samples using muonic X-rays

Osawa, Takahito; Nagasawa, Shunsaku*; Ninomiya, Kazuhiko*; Takahashi, Tadayuki*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Wada, Taiga*; Taniguchi, Akihiro*; Umegaki, Izumi*; Kubo, Kenya*; Terada, Kentaro*; et al.

ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (Internet), 7(4), p.699 - 711, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00303

The concentrations of carbon and other major elements in asteroid samples provide very important information on the birth of life on the Earth and the solar-system evolution. Elemental analysis using muonic X-rays is one of the best analytical methods to determine the elemental composition of solid materials, and notably, is the only method to determine the concentration of light elements in bulk samples in a non-destructive manner. We developed a new analysis system using muonic X-rays to measure the concentrations of carbon and other major elements in precious and expectedly tiny samples recovered from the asteroid Ryugu by spacecraft Hayabusa2. Here we report the development process of the system in 4 stages and their system configurations, The analysis system is composed of a stainless-steel analysis chamber, an acrylic glove box for manipulating asteroid samples in a clean environment, and Ge semiconductor detectors arranged to surround the analysis chamber. The performance of the analysis system, including the background level, which is crucial for the measurement, was greatly improved from the first stage to the later ones. Our feasibility study showed that the latest model of our muonic X-ray analysis system is capable of determining the carbon concentration in Hayabusa2's sample model with an uncertainty of less than 10 percent in a 6-day measurement.

Development and evaluation of XRF imaging instrument for moving objects

Fuchita, Tomoki*; Urata, Taisei*; Matsuyama, Tsugufumi*; Murakami, Masashi; Yoshida, Yukihiko; Ueda, Akihiko; Machida, Masahiko; Sasaki, Toshiki; Tsuji, Koichi*

Advances in X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, 53, p.77 - 87, 2022/03

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis is an analytical method to obtain elemental information by detecting fluorescence X-rays emitted from a sample irradiated with X-rays. It is possible to obtain two-dimensional elemental distribution images by scanning a sample with micro X-ray beam. In this study, we developed an XRF analytical instrument to rapidly obtain the elemental distributions for moving samples on a belt conveyor by applying the micro XRF technique. X-rays were widely irradiated to the belt conveyor. The elemental distributions were measured by scanning an X-ray detector, crossing above the belt conveyor. A collimator was attached to the top of the detector to limit the analyzing area. Both detection limit and spatial resolutions for moving directions of the detector and the belt conveyor were evaluated. Finally, it was demonstrated that the multi-elemental imaging was possible with the developed XRF instrument.

Removal and recovery of uranium from solid wastes by supercritical carbon dioxide fluid leaching method

Meguro, Yoshihiro; Tomioka, Osamu; Imai, Tomoki*; Fujimoto, Shigeyuki*; Nakashima, Mikio; Yoshida, Zenko; Honda, Tadashi*; Koya, Fumio*; Kitamura, Nobu*; Wada, Ryutaro*; et al.

Proceedings of International Waste Management Symposium 2004 (WM '04) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2004/03

Supercritical CO fluid leaching (SFL) method using supercritical CO fluid containing a complex of HNO - tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) was applied to removal of uranium from radioactive solid wastes. Sea sands, incineration ashes and porous alumina bricks were employed as matrixes of simulated solid wastes. Real radioactive incineration ash wastes and firebrick wastes were also subjected to the SFL treatment. It was found that uranium could be efficiently removed from both of the simulated wastes and real wastes by the SFL method. The removal efficiency of uranium from the real waste was lower than that from the corresponding artificial waste. About 1 g and 35 mg of uranium were recovered from 10 g of the real ash waste and 37 g of the real firebrick waste, respectively.

A Study of influence factor on uranium fixation the Tono uranium deposit, Japan

Yoshida, Hidekazu; Yui, Mikazu; Shibutani, Tomoki

PNC TN7410 91-061, 26 Pages, 1991/11

PNC-TN7410-91-061.pdf:1.47MB

The Tono uranium deposit is the largest uranium mineralization situated in central Japan. The source of the mineralization is uranium which has been leached from the basement granite and transported by groundwater. It was then adsorbed and/or precipitated under reducing conditions established by the lignite rich sedimentary rock. Macroscopic and microscopic studies have revealed that the uranium is concentrated in or around the pore spaces partly as coffinite or pitchblende closely related to pyrite, altered biotite and coaly plant tissues. It has become evident from hydrogeological and geochemical investigations that the zone in which uranium mineralization occurs has extremely low hydraulic conductivity and reducing condition. The results of U-233 batch sorption experiments under controlled atmosphere and macro/microscopic observations can be useful for assessing the migration behaviour of nuclides in sedimentary rock.

Development of X-ray fluorescence imaging system for moving objects

Fuchita, Tomoki*; Matsuyama, Tsugufumi*; Murakami, Masashi; Yoshida, Yukihiko; Ueda, Akihiko; Machida, Masahiko; Sasaki, Toshiki; Tsuji, Koichi*

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English