Development of radioactive beams at ALTO: Part 2. Influence of the UCx target microstructure on the release properties of fission products

TL;DR

This study investigates how the microstructure of UCx targets influences the release efficiency of fission products for radioactive beam production, using statistical analysis and modeling to optimize target design.

Contribution

It introduces a multivariate statistical approach to link target microstructure with release properties and demonstrates how to optimize target fabrication for improved radioactive beam yields.

Findings

Small grain size and high porosity enhance fission product release.

Homogeneous UCx samples with nanostructured porosity improve release efficiency.

Modeling shows optimized targets increase yield compared to conventional designs.

Abstract

Producing intense radioactive beams, in particular those consisting of short-lived isotopes requires the control of the release efficiency. The released fractions of 11 elements were measured on 14 samples that were characterized by various physicochemical analyses in a correlated paper (Part 1). A multivariate statistical approach, using the principal component analysis, was performed to highlight the impact of the microstructure on the release properties. Samples that best release fission products consist of grains and aggregates with small size and display a high porosity distributed on small diameter pores. They were obtained applying a mixing of ground uranium dioxide and carbon nanotubes powders leading to homogeneous uranium carbide samples with a porous nanostructure. A modelling under on-line ALTO conditions was carried out using the FLUKA code to compare the yields released by an optimized and a conventional target.