Protactinium-231 - nuclear chemistry

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0:00 Our Pa-231
0:38 Where Pa-231?
1:14 How Pa-231 was produced
4:48 decay data
6:27 radiotoxicty
7:38 bye :)

[@midi5581]

Your diisobutyl ketone structure is wrong, you showed methyl-isobutyl ketone instead

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

Oups. Yes I am was working on an extraction of Proactinium using MIBK. Will add that to the comments.

[@samsmith9764]

great video man :)

[@Matti_us_Alpe]

Three questions on recent developments: I. Is there any feasible progress on recycling the nuclear waste from nuclear power plants? II. Are the nuclear engineers now unemployed in Germany? III. Is there any new progress in materials for protection against radiation (lighter materials e.g.)?

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

Depending on the fuel. It can be realistically recycled up to 3 times (germany doens't do that). There is really a lot of potential on making waste less nasty. For example in 1 ton of spend plutonium, there are around half a million of platinum as fission products in it. But getting it is more expensive. 2. no, decommissioning is still ongoing and research reactors are and will be running. I'm not in that field but I think great Nuclear engineers are on high demand world wide^^ 3. no idea but there is a lot of fundamental research being done on critical materials when put in high radiation fields (concrete for example) 3.

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

I think it will always need to be heavy lead or concrete or water for shielding. There are spacecraft designs that keep the water in a circilular tank around the hull to provide some protection for astronauts from space radiation.

[@Matti_us_Alpe]

@@SimonsNuclearchemistrydanke Simon!

[@MostlyPennyCat]

172g of Pa-231? That sounds -fun- terrifying

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

I'd love to see the giant reaction vessels and equipment in these facilities.

[@James-xu3vc]

So I guess someone Putin doesn't like gonna be gettin' some in their tea soon, eh? 😂

[@MostlyPennyCat]

0:43 Satan i think.

[@yaykruser]

I think I dont need to ask the main question for this one 🥲 So here are a few others: What is that protactinium used for if its too dangerous to even show it? In what form is it, solid or dissolved in water? How does the radiotoxicity compare to something more common like Uranium or radium ( cant find any values online).

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

We would need a special glovebox for it to handle it. Nothing too fancy but we just don't have the space for it. It has very little uses. Not many Labs have it, so not much research is being done. But natural Pa-231 has uses in oceanic current research (there will be a Video about it) Pa2O5 is not easily dissolved. It only really dissolves in HF... you see why no one wants that stuff xD? But we have to trust the describtion. Its worse than chemically isolated Uranium but not as Bad as the same quantities of pure Radiumnitrate. In this case the activity is determined by the half life. And since Pa is long lifed compared to Ra and both reach radioactive equilibrium, Radium is worse.

[@yaykruser]

⁠@@SimonsNuclearchemistryI guess the fact that its not watersoluble helps a little with the radiotoxicity. Can it be detected in uranium ore using the gamma lines (with your radiacode) or is there not enought produced by the 0.7% U 235 ?

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

@@yaykruser should be possible to detect if you measure long enough as it is a main part of the decay chain. Wanted to make a Video about natural and chemical Uranium. I will include that in the video^^

[@yaykruser]

@@SimonsNuclearchemistry That would be awesome!☺️

[@plutoniumiscool]

Nice, opening the lead pig for a few seconds and filming the sample would not be very dangerous i think.

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

My Professor was really against it

[@DavidSchmitt]

​@@SimonsNuclearchemistrybut did you ask him to "do it for the 'gram"? 😂

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

@@DavidSchmitt literally anything I do is "come on. That would make for a good Video!" 😂

[@GigsVT]

I think most of us expected some talking about how such a source would be handled or worked with. Practical matters and lab protocols. Please make another video if you have enough content for this topic. With such extreme activity felt like you just teased us with it then left us dry.

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

The radionuclide series (same for other radionuclides I already presented) is more about neat stories about them :) Currently we don't have the equipment or a research proposal to handle it. It was a gift from another lab that had to close.

[@AndrewZonenberg]

@@SimonsNuclearchemistry By "gift" you mean "please take this so we don't have to pay for disposal"?

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

@@AndrewZonenberg pshhhhhhh😂🤫

[@douro20]

Is the detector on the LB 122 a xenon-filled detector or a butane-filled one?

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

Our Version is Xenon filled. But the LB122 can come in a P10 or a butane version^^

[@noelomaolchraoibhe3911]

I suspect my childhood in the 70s & 80s growing up near Sellafield means I have a sick sense of humor which is why I laughed out loud when he specified the radiotoxicity values for Pa compared to Po and then said we should "take it with a grain of salt".......better then tea I suppose!

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

Is this your favorite or rarest sample in this quantity?

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

Its certainly cool but its so niche that I kinde more prefere our lovely Uranylnitrate crystals. The rarest sample is certainly our Plutonium 239/240/242/244 AMS Standard as it is the only one of its kind. Its home made ;D

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

@@SimonsNuclearchemistry Well, that sample calls for a video if you can! I'm no scientist, more of an armchair nuclear enthusiast. You explain the more complicated things very well. Thanks for the content.

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

@@RobertCraft-re5sf thanks for these nice words :D ofc there is going to be a Video about it but that'll take a while. Several other Videos will come first^^

[@brfisher1123]

Oh, can’t you just use that to detect francium??!!

[@SimonsNuclearchemistry]

I did try it (i collected the spectra for the francium Video on the day we got the Pa-231 and that was kinda my last hope🥲)

[@brfisher1123]

@@SimonsNuclearchemistry Bummer, I thought that by having much purer and greater amount of 231Pa that would help you with the problem of having the long half-life of that radionuclide blocking 223Fr from being detected.

[@brfisher1123]

@@SimonsNuclearchemistry Maybe you can detect 221Fr by getting your hands on some 229Th in significant (but safe) amounts.