Home Physical Sciences Development of methods for the preparation of radiopure 82Se sources for the SuperNEMO neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Development of methods for the preparation of radiopure 82Se sources for the SuperNEMO neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment

  • Alimardon V. Rakhimov EMAIL logo , A. S. Barabash , A. Basharina-Freshville , S. Blot , M. Bongrand , Ch. Bourgeois , D. Breton , R. Breier , E. Birdsall , V. B. Brudanin , H. Burešova , J. Busto , S. Calvez , M. Cascella , C. Cerna , J. P. Cesar , E. Chauveau , A. Chopra , G. Claverie , S. De Capua , F. Delalee , D. Duchesneau , V. G. Egorov , G. Eurin , J. J. Evans , L. Fajt , D. V. Filosofov , R. Flack , X. Garrido , H. Gomez , B. Guillon , P. Guzowski , R. Hodák , K. Holý , A. Huber , C. Hugon , A. Jeremie , S. Jullian , D. V. Karaivanov , M. Kauer , A. A. Klimenko , O. I. Kochetov , S. I. Konovalov , V. Kovalenko , K. Lang , Y. Lemière , T. Le Noblet , Z. Liptak , X. R. Liu , P. Loaiza , G. Lutter , J. Maalmi , M. Macko , F. Mamedov , C. Marquet , F. Mauger , A. Minotti , A. A. Mirsagatova , N. A. Mirzayev , I. Moreau , B. Morgan , J. Mott , I. B. Nemchenok , M. Nomachi , F. Nova , H. Ohsumi , G. Oliviero , R. B. Pahlka , J. R. Pater , V. Palušová , F. Perrot , F. Piquemal , P. Povinec , P. Pridal , Y. A. Ramachers , A. Rebii , A. Remoto , B. Richards , J. S. Ricol , E. Rukhadze , N. I. Rukhadze , R. Saakyan , I. I. Sadikov , R. Salazar , X. Sarazin , J. Sedgbeer , Yu. A. Shitov , F. Šimkovic , L. Simard , A. Smetana , K. Smolek , A. A. Smolnikov , S. Snow , S. Söldner-Rembold , B. Soulé , M. Špavorova , I. Štekl , F. A. Tashimova , J. Thomas , V. Timkin , S. Torre , Vl. I. Tretyak , V. I. Tretyak , V. I. Umatov , C. Vilela , V. Vorobel , G. Warot , D. Waters , M. Zampaolo and A. Žukauskas
Published/Copyright: June 15, 2019
Radiochimica Acta
From the journal Radiochimica Acta Volume 108 Issue 2

Abstract

A radiochemical method for producing 82Se sources with an ultra-low level of contamination of natural radionuclides (40K, decay products of 232Th and 238U) has been developed based on cation-exchange chromatographic purification with reverse removal of impurities. It includes chromatographic separation (purification), reduction, conditioning (which includes decantation, centrifugation, washing, grinding, and drying), and 82Se foil production. The conditioning stage, during which highly dispersed elemental selenium is obtained by the reduction of purified selenious acid (H2SeO3) with sulfur dioxide (SO2) represents the crucial step in the preparation of radiopure 82Se samples. The natural selenium (600 g) was first produced in this procedure in order to refine the method. The technique developed was then used to produce 2.5 kg of radiopure enriched selenium (82Se). The produced 82Se samples were wrapped in polyethylene (12 μm thick) and radionuclides present in the sample were analyzed with the BiPo-3 detector. The radiopurity of the plastic materials (chromatographic column material and polypropylene chemical vessels), which were used at all stages, was determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The radiopurity of the 82Se foils was checked by measurements with the BiPo-3 spectrometer, which confirmed the high purity of the final product. The measured contamination level for 208Tl was 8–54 μBq/kg, and for 214Bi the detection limit of 600 μBq/kg has been reached.

Keywords: Selenium-82; ion exchange chromatography; purification; mass spectrometry; neutron activation analysis; SuperNEMO; LSM Modane

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support by the staff of the Modane Underground Laboratory and by the MEYS of the Czech Republic (grant number EF16_013/0001733), APVV in Slovakia, CNRS/IN2P3 and Labex Enigmass (A. Remoto) in France, RFBR in Russia (Project No. 16-52-16018 NCNIL a and No. 19-52-16002 NCNIL a), STFC in the UK and NSF in the USA.

References

1. Arnold, R., Augier, C., Bakalyarov, A. M., Baker, J., Barabash, A., Bernaudin, Ph., Bouchel, M., Brudanin, V., Caffrey, A. J., Cailleret, J., Campagne, J.-E., Dassie, D., Egorov, V., Errahmane, K., Etienvre, A. I., Filipova, T., Forget, J., Guiral, A., Guiral, P., Guyonnet, J. L., Hubert, F., Hubert, Ph., Humbert, B., Igersheim, R., Imbert, P., Jollet, C., Jullian, S., Kisel, I., Klimenko, A., Kochetov, O., Kovalenko, V., Lalanne, D., Laplanche, F., Lavigne, B., Lebedev, V. I., Lebris, J., Leccia, F., Leconte, A., Linck, I., Longuemare, C., Marquet, Ch., Martin-Chassard, G., Mauger, F., Nemchenok, I., Nikolic-Audit, I., Ohsumi, H., Pecourt, S., Piquemal, F., Reyss, J. L., Richard, A., Riddle, C. L., Rypko, J., Sarazin, X., Simard, L., Scheibling, F., Shitov, Yu., Smolnikov, A., Stekl, I., Sutton, C. S., Szklarz, G., Timkin, V., Tretyak, V., Umatov, V., Vala, L., Vanushin, I., Vasiliev, S., Vasilyev, V., Vorobel, V., Vylov, Ts., Wurtz, J., Zhukov, S. V.: Technical design and performance of the NEMO 3 detector. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A. 536, 79 (2005).10.1016/j.nima.2004.07.194Search in Google Scholar

2. Arnold, R., Augier, C., Baker, J. D., Barabash, A. S., Basharina-Freshville, A., Blondel, S., Blot, S., Bongrand, M., Boursette, D., Brudanin, V., Busto, J., Caffrey, A. J., Calvez, S., Cascella, M., Cerna, C., Cesar, J. P., Chapon, A., Chauveau, E., Chopra, A., Duchesneau, D., Durand, D., Egorov, V., Eurin, G., Evans, J. J., Fajt, L., Filosofov, D., Flack, R., Garrido, X., G’omez, H., Guillon, B., Guzowski, P., Hod’ak, R., Huber, A., Hubert, P., Hugon, C., Jullian, S., Klimenko, A., Kochetov, O., Konovalov, S. I., Kovalenko, V., Lalanne, D., Lang, K., Lemiere, Y., Le Noblet, T., Liptak, Z., Liu, X. R., Loaiza, P., Lutter, G., Macko, M., Macolino, C., Mamedov, F., Marquet, C., Mauger, F., Morgan, B., Mott, J., Nemchenok, I., Nomachi, M., Nova, F., Nowacki, F., Ohsumi, H., Pahlka, R. B., Perrot, F., Piquemal, F., Povinec, P., Pridal, P., Ramachers, Y. A., Remoto, A., Reyss, J. L., Richards, B., Riddle, C. L., Rukhadze, E., Saakyan, R., Salazar, R., Sarazin, X., Shitov, Yu., Simard, L., Simkovic, F., Smetana, A., Smolek, K., Smolnikov, A., Soldner-Rembold, S., Soule, B., Stekl, I., Suhonen, J., Sutton, C. S., Szklarz, G., Thomas, J., Timkin, V., Torre, S., Tretyak, V. I., Tretyak, V. I., Umatov, V. I., Vanushin, I., Vilela, C., Vorobel, V., Waters, D., Zukauskas, A.: Measurement of the 2νββ decay half-life and search for the 0νββ decay of 116Cd with the NEMO-3 detector. Phys. Rev. D 95(1), 012007 (2017).10.1103/PhysRevD.95.012007Search in Google Scholar

3. Arnold, R., Augier, C., Baker, J. D., Barabash, A. S., Basharina-Freshville, A., Blondel, S., Blot, S., Bongr, M., Boursette, D., Brudanin, V., Busto, J., Caffrey, A. J., Calvez, S., Cascella, M., Cerna, C., Cesar, J. P., Chapon, A., Chauveau, E., Chopra, A., Duchesneau, D., Dur, D., Egorov, V., Eurin, G., Evans, J. J., Fajt, L., Filosofov, D., Flack, R., Garrido, X., G’omez, H., Guillon, B., Guzowski, P., Hod’ak, R., Huber, A., Hubert, P., Hugon, C., Jullian, S., Klimenko, A., Kochetov, O., Konovalov, S. I., Kovalenko, V., Lalanne, D., Lang, K., Lemiere, Y., Le Noblet, T., Liptak, Z., Liu, X. R., Loaiza, P., Lutter, G., Macko, M., Macolino, C., Mamedov, F., Marquet, C., Mauger, F., Morgan, B., Mott, J., Nemchenok, I., Nomachi, M., Nova, F., Nowacki, F., Ohsumi, H., Pahlka, R. B., Perrot, F., Piquemal, F., Povinec, P., Pridal, P., Ramachers, Y. A. Remoto, A., Reyss, J. L., Richards, B., Riddle, C. L., Rukhadze, E., Saakyan, R., Salazar, R., Sarazin, X., Shitov, Yu., Simard, L., Simkovic, F., Smetana, A., Smolek, K., Smolnikov, A., Soldner-Rembold, S., Soule, B., Stekl, I., Suhonen, J., Sutton, C. S., Szklarz, G., Thomas, J., Timkin, V., Torre, S., Tretyak, V. I., Tretyak, V. I., Umatov, V. I., Vanushin, I., Vilela, C., Vorobel, V., Waters, D., Zukauskas, A.: Search for neutrinoless quadruple-β decay of Nd-150 with NEMO-3 detector. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 041801 (2017).10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.041801Search in Google Scholar PubMed

4. Perrot, F.: Status of the SuperNEMO Demonstrator, 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2016), Chicago, USA, August 3–10, 2016, PoS (ICHEP2016) 499, https://doi.org/10.22323/1.282.0499.10.22323/1.282.0499Search in Google Scholar

5. Karandashev, V. K., Bezrukov, L. B., Kornoukhov, V. N., Nosenko, S. V., Glavin, G. G., Ovchinnikov, S. V.: Analysis of germanium and germanium dioxide samples by mass-spectrometry and atomic emission spectroscopy. J. Anal. Chem. 64(3), 259 (2009).10.1134/S1061934809030095Search in Google Scholar

6. Rakhimov, A. V., Brudanin, V. B., Filosofov, D. V., Loaiza, P., Marinov, G. M., Mirsagatova, A. A., Medvedev, D., Mukhamedshina, N. M., Rozov, S. V., Sadikov, I. I., Warot, G., Yakushev, E. A.: Neutron activation analysis of polyethylene from neutron shield of EDELWEISS experiment. Radiochim. Acta 109(9), 673 (2015).10.1515/ract-2014-2358Search in Google Scholar

7. Leonard, D. S., Grinberg, P., Weber, P., Baussan, E., Djurcic, Z., Keefer, G., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Vuilleumier, J.-L., Vuilleumier, J. M., Akimov, D., Bellerive, A., Bowcock, M., Breidenbach, M., Burenkov, A., Conley, R., Craddock, W., Danilov, M., DeVoe, R., Dixit, M., Dolgolenko, A., Ekchtout, I., Fairbank, W. Jr., Farine, J., Fierlinger, P., Flatt, B., Gratta, G., Green, M., Hall, C., Hall, K., Hallman, D., Hargrove, C., Herbst, R., Hodgson, J., Jeng, S., Kolkowitz, S., Kovalenko, A., Kovalenko, D., LePort, F., Mackay, D., Moe, M., Montero Díez, M., Neilson, R., Odian, A., O’Sullivan, K., Ounalli, L., Prescott, C. Y., Rowson, P. C., Schenker, D., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Smirnov, G., Stekhanov, V., Strickland, V., Virtue, C., Wamba, K., Wodin, J.: Systematic study of trace radioactive impurities in candidate construction materials for EXO-200. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A 591. 490 (2008).10.1016/j.nima.2008.03.001Search in Google Scholar

8. Budjás, D., Gangapshev, A. M., Gasparro, J., Hampel, W., Heisel, M., Heusser, G., Hult, M., Klimenko, A. A., Kuzminov, V. V., Laubenstein, M., Maneschg, W., Simgen, H., Smolnikov, A. A., Tomei, C., Vasiliev, S. I.: Gamma-ray spectrometry of ultra-low levels of radioactivity within the material screening program for the GERDA experiment. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 67, 755 (2009).10.1016/j.apradiso.2009.01.019Search in Google Scholar PubMed

9. Argyriades, J., Arnold, R., Augier, C., Baker, J., Barabash, A. S., Basharina-Freshville, A., Bongrand, M., Bourgeois, C., Breton, D., Brière, M., Broudinay, G., Brudanin, V. B., Caffrey, A. J., Carcel, S., Cebrián, S., Chapon, A., Chauveau, E., Dafni, Th., Díaz, J., Durand, D., Egorov, V. G., Evans, J. J., Flack, R., Fushima, K. I., Irastorza, I. G., Garrido, X., Gómez, H., Guillon, B., Holin, A., Hommet, J., Holy, K., Horkey, J. J., Hubert, P., Hugon, C., Iguaz, F. J., Ishihara, N., Jackson, C. M., Jenzer, S., Jullian, S., Kauer, M., Kochetov, O. I., Konovalov, S. I., Kovalenko, V., Lamhamdi, T., Lang, K., Lemière, Y., Lutter, G., Luzón, G., Mamedov, F., Marquet, Ch., Mauger, F., Monrabal, F., Nachab, A., Nasteva, I., Nemchenok, I. B., Nguyen, C. H., Nomachi, M., Nova, F., Ohsumi, H., Pahlka, R. B., Perrot, F., Piquemal, F., Povinec, P. P., Richards, B., Ricol, J. S., Riddle, C. L., Rodríguez, A., Saakyan, R., Sarazin, X., Sedgbeer, J. K., Serra, L., Shitov, Yu. A., Simard, L., Šimkovic, F., Söldner-Rembold, S., Štekl, I., Sutton, C. S., Tamagawa, Y., Szklarz, G., Thomas, J., Thompson, R., Timkin, V., Tretyak, V., Tretyak, V. I., Umatov, V. I., Vála, L., Vanyushin, I. A., Vasiliev, R., Vasiliev, V. A., Vorobel, V., Waters, D., Yahlali, N., Žukauskas, A.: Results of the BiPo-1 prototype for radiopurity measurements for the SuperNEMO double-beta decay source foils. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. A 622, 120 (2010).10.1016/j.nima.2010.07.037Search in Google Scholar

10. Barabash, A. S., Basharina-Freshville, A., Birdsall, E., Blondel, S., Blot, S., Bongramd, M., Boursette, D., Brudanin, V., Busto, J., Caffrey, A. J., Calvez, S., Cascella, M., Cebrian, S., Cerna, C., Cesar, J. P., Chauveau, E., Chopra, A., Dafni, T., De Capua, S., Duchesneau, D., Durant, D., Egorov, V., Eurin, G., Evans, J. J., Fajt, L., Filosofov, D., Flack, R., Carrido, X., Gomes, H., Guillon, B., Guzovski, P., Holy, K., Hodak, R., Huber, A., Hugon, C., Iguaz, F. J., Irastorza, I. G., Jeremie, A., Jullian, S., Kauer, M., Klimenko, A., Kochetov, O., Konovalov, S. I., Kovalenko, V., Lang, K., Lemiere, Y., Npbiet, T. L., Liptak, Z., Liu, X. R., Loaiza, P., Lutter, G., Luzon, G., Macko, M., Mamedov, F., Marquet, C., Mauger, F., Morgan, B., Mott, J., Nemchenok, I., Nomachi, M., Nova, F., Osumi, Y., Oliviero, G., Ortiz de Solorzano, A., Pahlka, R. B., Pater, J., Perrot, F., Piquemal, F., Povinec, P., Pridal, P., Ramachers, Y. A., Remoto, A., Richards, B., Riddle, C. L., Ruchadze, E., Saakyan, R., Salazar, R., Sarazin, X., Shitov, Yu., Simard, L., Simkovic, F., Smetana, A., Smolek, K., Smolnikov, A., Soldner-Rembold, S., Soule, B., Stekl, I., Thomas, J., Timkin, V., Torre, S., Tretyak, V. I., Tretyak, V. I., Umatov, V. I., Volela, C., Vorobel, V., Waters, D., Zukauskas, A.: The BiPo-3 detector for the measurement of ultra low natural radioactivities of thin materials. JINST 12, (2017) P06002.10.1088/1748-0221/12/06/P06002Search in Google Scholar

11. Arnold, R., Augier, C., Barabash, A. S., Basharina-Freshville, A., Blondel, S., Blot, S., Bongrand, M., Boursette, D., Brudanin, V., Busto, J., Caffrey, A. J., Calvez, S., Cascella, M., Cerna, C., Cesar, J. P., Chapon, A., Chauveau, E., Chopra, A., Dawson, L., Duchesneau, D., Durand, D., Egorov, V., Eurin, G., Evans, J. J., Fajt, L., Filosofov, D., Flack, R., Garrido, X., Gómez, H., Guillon, B., Guzowski, P., Hodák, R., Huber, A., Hubert, P., Hugon, C., Jullian, S., Klimenko, A., Kochetov, O., Konovalov, S. I., Kovalenko, V., Lalanne, D., Lang, K., Lemière, Y., Le Noblet, T., Liptak, Z., Liu, X. R., Loaiza, P., Lutter, G., Macolino, C., Mamedov, F., Marquet, C., Mauger, F., Morgan, B., Mott, J., Nemchenok, I., Nomachi, M., Nova, F., Nowacki, F., Ohsumi, H., Pahlka, R. B., Patrick, C., Perrot, F., Piquemal, F., Povinec, P., Přidal, P., Ramachers, Y. A., Remoto, A., Reyss, J. L., Riddle, C. L., Rukhadze, E., Rukhadze, N. I., Saakyan, R., Salazar, R., Sarazin, X., Shitov, Yu., Simard, L., Šimkovic, F., Smetana, A., Smolek, K., Smolnikov, A., Söldner-Rembold, S., Soulé, B., Štekl, I., Suhonen, J., Sutton, C. S., Szklarz, G., Thomas, J., Timkin, V., Torre, S., Tretyak, V. I., Tretyak, V. I., Umatov, V. I., Vanushin, I., Vilela, C., Vorobel, V., Waters, D., Xie, F., Žukauskas, A.: Final results on 82Se double-beta decay to the ground state of 82Kr from the NEMO-3 experiment. Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 821 (2018).10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6295-xSearch in Google Scholar

12. Rakhimov, A. V., Warot, G., Karaivanov, D. V., Kochetov, O. I., Lebedev, N. A., Mukhamedshina, N. M., Sadikov, I. I., Filosofov, D. V.: Purification of selenium from thorium, uranium, radium, actinium and potassium impurities for the low background measurements. Radiochim. Acta 101(10), 653 (2013).10.1524/ract.2013.2060Search in Google Scholar

13. Available at http://www.nndc.bnl.gov.Search in Google Scholar

14. Lebedev, N. A.: Poluchenie radioaktivnix preparatov redkozemelnix elementov i istochnikov izlucheniya dlya yadernospectroskopicheskix issledovaniy. Dissertaciya na soiskanie uchyonoy stepeni candidata ximicheskix nauk. Ph.D. Thesis, Dubna (1973), p. 156 (in Russian).Search in Google Scholar

15. Genie 2000 Software Family, Canberra, USA. Available at http://www.canberra.com/products/radiochemistry_lab/genie-2000-software.asp.Search in Google Scholar

16. Jeremie, A., Remoto, A.: The SuperNEMO ββ source production. 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2016), Chicago, USA, August 3–10, 2016, PoS(ICHEP2016)1018. https://doi.org/10.22323/1.282.1018.10.22323/1.282.1018Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2019-03-04
Accepted: 2019-05-16
Published Online: 2019-06-15
Published in Print: 2020-01-28

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Development of methods for the preparation of radiopure 82Se sources for the SuperNEMO neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment
  3. Determination of 210Po in low-level wild bilberries reference material for quality control assurance in environmental analysis using extraction chromatography and α-particle spectroscopy
  4. Chemical effects of nuclear transformations and possible formation of unknown derivatives with N-phenylquinazolinium structure
  5. An approach for the efficient immobilization of 79Se using Fe-OOH modified GMZ bentonite
  6. Kinetics and mechanism of the advanced oxidation process of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) by SO4−˙ free radicals in slightly acidic simulated atmospheric water
  7. Preparation of novel nano composite materials from biomass waste and their sorptive characteristics for certain radionuclides
  8. Effect of maleic anhydride content on physico-mechanical properties of γ-irradiated waste polypropylene/corn husk fibers bio-composites
  9. Precise volume fraction measurement for three-phase flow meter using 137Cs gamma source and one detector
https://doi.org/10.1515/ract-2019-3129
Keywords for this article
Selenium-82; ion exchange chromatography; purification; mass spectrometry; neutron activation analysis; SuperNEMO; LSM Modane

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Development of methods for the preparation of radiopure 82Se sources for the SuperNEMO neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment
  3. Determination of 210Po in low-level wild bilberries reference material for quality control assurance in environmental analysis using extraction chromatography and α-particle spectroscopy
  4. Chemical effects of nuclear transformations and possible formation of unknown derivatives with N-phenylquinazolinium structure
  5. An approach for the efficient immobilization of 79Se using Fe-OOH modified GMZ bentonite
  6. Kinetics and mechanism of the advanced oxidation process of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) by SO4−˙ free radicals in slightly acidic simulated atmospheric water
  7. Preparation of novel nano composite materials from biomass waste and their sorptive characteristics for certain radionuclides
  8. Effect of maleic anhydride content on physico-mechanical properties of γ-irradiated waste polypropylene/corn husk fibers bio-composites
  9. Precise volume fraction measurement for three-phase flow meter using 137Cs gamma source and one detector
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 5.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ract-2019-3129/html
Scroll to top button