uranium-232

Article summary

Uranium-232 ( ) is an isotope of uranium. It has a half-life of 68.9 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. Production of 233 U (through the neutron irradiation of 232 Th) invariably produces small amounts of 232 U as an impurity, because of parasitic (n,2n) reactions on uranium-233 itself, or on protactinium-233, or on thorium-232: : 232 Th (n,γ) 233 Th (β − ) 233 Pa (β − ) 233 U (n,2n) 232 U : 232 Th (n,γ) 233 Th (β − ) 233 Pa (n,2n) 232 Pa (β − ) 232 U : 232 Th (n,2n) 231 Th (β − ) 231 Pa (n,γ) 232 Pa (β − ) 232 U Another channel involves neutron capture reaction on small amounts of thorium-230, which is a tiny fraction of natural thorium present due to the decay of uranium-238: : 230 Th (n,γ) 231 Th (β − ) 231 Pa (n,γ) 232 Pa (β − ) 232 U The decay chain of 232 U quickly yields strong gamma radiation emitters: : 232 U (α, 68.9 years) : 228 Th (α, 1.9125 years) (after this, the decay chain is identical to that of 232 Th; thorium-232 is nevertheless much less dangerous because its much longer half-life, 14 billion years or 200 million times that of uranium-232, means the build-up of daughters is that much l…

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