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231 Pa makes up nearly all natural protactinium. The primary decay mode for isotopes of Pa lighter than (and including) the most stable isotope 231 Pa is alpha decay, except for 228 Pa to 230 Pa, which primarily decay by electron capture to isotopes of thorium. The primary mode for the heavier isotopes is beta minus (β −) decay.
Aristid von Grosse produced 2 milligrams of Pa 2 O 5 in 1927, [29] and in 1934 first isolated elemental protactinium from 0.1 milligrams of Pa 2 O 5. [30] He used two different procedures: in the first, protactinium oxide was irradiated by 35 keV electrons in vacuum.
Thorium-233 decays into protactinium-233 through beta decay. Protactinium-233 has a half-life of 27 days and beta decays into uranium-233; some proposed molten salt reactor designs attempt to physically isolate the protactinium from further neutron capture before beta decay can occur, to maintain the neutron economy (if it misses the 233 U ...
Uranium-232 (232 U) is an isotope of uranium.It has a half-life of around 69 years and is a side product in the thorium cycle.It has been cited as an obstacle to nuclear proliferation using 233 U as the fissile material, because the intense gamma radiation emitted by 208 Tl (a daughter of 232 U, produced relatively quickly) makes the 233 U contaminated with it more difficult to handle.
In some thorium breeding scenarios, the intermediate product protactinium 233 Pa would be removed from the reactor and allowed to decay into highly pure 233 U, an attractive bomb-making material. More modern designs propose to use a lower specific power or a separate thorium breeding blanket.
Before you start building a hundred houses, learn how to build one house well. It may take a while to learn how to do it right, but you will save yourself a broken ankle and a wet head if you read up on how to build a staircase and how to design a roof before you actually build them! Shoddy craftsmanship is only a small step better than no ...
The LFTR resists diversion of its fuel to nuclear weapons in four ways: first, the thorium-232 breeds by converting first to protactinium-233, which then decays to uranium-233. If the protactinium remains in the reactor, small amounts of U-232 are also produced. U-232 has a decay chain product (thallium-208) that emits powerful, dangerous gamma ...
[2] [3]: 195 As protactinium(V) oxide, like other protactinium compounds, is radioactive, toxic and very rare, it has very limited technological use. Mixed oxides of Nb, Mg, Ga and Mn, doped with 0.005–0.52% Pa 2 O 5, have been used as high temperature dielectrics (up to 1300 °C) for ceramic capacitors. [3]: 189