Publications

Near surface disposal is considered a suitable option for the disposal of short-lived low and intermediate level waste (LILW) containing radionuclides which decay to insignificant radiation levels within a few decades or centuries. LILW containing limited concentrations of long-lived radionuclides may also be disposed of in near surface facilities. The main radionuclides in short lived LILW are Cs-137 and Sr-90 and therefore, a period of 300 years for the post-closure institutional controls would correspond to about ten half-lives of these radionuclides. The longer-lived radionuclides, such as C-14, I-129, Tc-99 will continue to be released even after that period due to the engineering barriers degradation. The paper presents the post closure radiological impact of LIL waste disposal due to the C-14, one of the long life radionuclides presented in the LILW generated at Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant.

In this paper, we have studied the structure and the phase transformations in thin films (obtained by evaporation from gamma-irradiated polyethylene bulks - ageing polymer) before and after laser irradiation. We made a comparison between the following samples: A - thin films obtained from gamma-irradiated polyethylene bulk and not subjected to laser irradiation; B - thin films obtained from gamma-irradiated polyethylene bulk and subjected to laser irradiation. We have revealed many modifications in the dielectric and structural properties of the thin films, depending on the dose, dose rate and the time of laser irradiation (in the case of samples B). The thickness of all deposited films was 90 nm. The samples (non-irradiated or irradiated) were analysed by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in combination with selected area electron diffraction (SAED). We have also presented the structure of non-aged and non-irradiated thin polyethylene films (control polyethylene film), in which we observed a particularly puzzling phase between an incipient spherulitic phase and a fine structure of the spherulitic phase (specifically for thin PE films structure). After gamma- and laser irradiations, we observed a strong modification of the structure. The spherulitic phase was transformed. We observed large, amorphous, transparent crystals containing many defects, carbon precipitates, the beginning of crystallisation revealed by electron diffraction, treeing and breakdown figures (usually after laser irradiation). Copyright (C) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Beyond nano-science is angstrom-science, beyond nano-technology is angstrom-technology, beyond nano-devices are angstrom-devices. Beyond these new emerging fields in materials physics is to ride on electron, but this is almost pure phantasy.

We have studied the oxidation states of Fe and Mo and the presence of grain boundaries in the magneto resistive (MR) compounds Sr2FeMoO6 by means of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Mossbauer spectroscopy and electrical resistivity measurements. XPS of the Mo 3d and Fe 3s core levels is indicating a mixed valence state involving around 30% Fe3+ - Mo5+ and 70% Fe2+ - Mo6+ states. Mossbauer studies confirm the presence of a valence fluctuation state and an essential amount of grain boundaries in the present Sr2FeMoO6 crystals. Resistivities and magnetoresistance studies evidenced strong grain boundary effects.

Two different Fe/MnF2 samples have been prepared by e-beam evaporation on MgO(001) substrates. The Fe layer in the samples includes a 10 angstrom thick Fe-57 probe layer either at the Fe/MnF2 interface (interface sample) or 35 angstrom away from the interface (center sample). The samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) and SQUID magnetometry. Fe-57 CEMS has been employed to study the depth dependent hyperfine interactions in Fe/MnF2 as a function of temperature between 18 K to 300 K. The hyperfine field B-hf has been obtained for the interfacial and off-interfacial Fe-57 layers. At the interface, besides B-hf of bcc-Fe, the presence of a component with a distribution P(B-hf ) is observed. The latter is assigned to interfacial Fe-57 atoms, indicating some (similar to 15%, equivalent to similar to 1 Fe atomic layer) intermixing at the Fe/MnF2 interface and a decrease of the average by 21%. The influence of the interface disappears as the Fe-57 probe layer is placed away from the interface. The temperature dependence of the average of the interface has been measured. The Fe spins, at remanence, are found to lie in the film plane.

Various closed nanocluster configurations based on the stoichiometric arsenic-chalcogen composition have been built and relaxed by a computer Monte Carlo procedure. They can be used in the construction of the glass network. A model with random packing of various large, closed nano-clusters has been devised and fairly good agreement with experimental data for As2S3 has been obtained.

It is proposed a quasi-linear algorithm for the solving the kinetic equations system, which describes the excitation and relaxation processes in the electronic and phononic subsystems of amorphous chalcogenides. The nonlinear interaction between an optical field and an amorphous chalcogenide medium is analyzed. The nonlinear interaction between an excitation incident optical field and the non-crystalline chalcogenide materials, evidences the specific nonlinear phenomena in amorphous semiconductors, which have no correspondent in the case of crystalline semiconductors. The model is limited to phenomena occurring in chalcogenide semiconductors, simultaneously with the optical field propagation, by neglecting the excitation phenomena.

Microstructure and the sintering behaviour of zirconia with twinned stabiliser ions: Ca2+ + Mg-2 in oxidative and in inert environment respectively obtained by solid state reactions method were studied. The specimens were cured at 1550 degrees C and 1750 degrees C in air in a kiln with methane gas. Samples with the same composition were sintered at 1550 degrees C in Argon in electrical furnace with (graphite electrodes). Their sinterability, microstructure as well as stability was studied The properties were compared as function of the processing route, the compositions stabilised in argon protective environment at 1550 degrees C or in air at 1750 degrees C, a totally stabilisation process was effective.

The ability of the Fe-57 Mossbauer technique to reveal the spin structures in exchange coupled magnetic phases containing iron is emphasized. Experimental results obtained on layered exchange-bias systems are presented. The influence of the ferromagnetic top layer on the out-of-plane spin component of the pinning antiferromagnetic-like layer, in both Fe/FeSn2 and Fe/Fe-Gd-B exchange bias systems, is discussed.