New IAEA Study On How Chemical Elements React to Irradiation

The IAEA has developed novel theoretical calculation models on how primary radiation affects all 83 natural chemical elements and has made this information available online.

These calculations can help experts make stronger and more resistant materials to be used in areas where materials may be exposed to radiation, including in the nuclear industry, medicine, biology, fusion and space technology.

Chemical elements, made up of atoms, vary in the number of protons, neutrons and electrons.

This is responsible for their physical and chemical properties, including how they react to radiation.

Depending on their composition, materials are affected differently by radiation.

They display different kinds of defects after an initial atomic displacement event induced by a high-energy particle.

Studying this so-called primary damage is key to understanding any kind of radiation effects.

Read the full story on IAEA News.

 

The review of the theory and the Coordinated Research Project results have been published in the European Physical Journal, with the Nuclear Sciences and Technologies section of which (EPJ-N) ENS recently announced a new partnership.  

The review describes the latest methodologies and metrics, and provides recommendations for standard and novel approaches. All CRP publications and associated data are openly available here.