Characterization of terrestrial hot particles from the Palomares accident using destructive and non-destructive analytical techniques

¹ Centro Nacional de Aceleradores, Av. Thomas Alba Edison, Isla de la Cartuja, 41092 Sevilla, Spain
² Departamento de Física Aplicada II, E.T.S.A, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain

Corresponding author: gtenorio@us.es

Abstract

Several radioactive particles from the Palomares area have been analyzed with the nuclear microprobe of the National Accelerator Centre (CNA) in Seville exploring the advantages of combining µ-PIXE using a 5.5 MeV ⁴He beam with conventional µ-PIXE analysis using 3 MeV protons. The measurements performed with the α-particles are more sensitive to the sample surface, while the results collected with protons are indicative of the average composition of the hot particle. In this way, important information about the depth distribution of Pu and U in the particles has been obtained. In addition, the particles have been analyzed by SEM (EDX) and one of them has been sacrificed for the determination of its U and Pu isotopic composition by ICP-MS and α-spectrometry, being gained in this way important information about the composition of the weapons involved in the Palomares accident.