Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products

We calculate the rates of β− decay of highly ionized long-lived and medium-lived fission products (LLFPs, MLFPs). These elements, produced as residues of nuclear fission in reactors, exhibit high radioactivity and prolonged half-lives, making them hazardous to the environment. To address this issue...

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Main Authors: Gupta Arkabrata, Biswas Tripti, Lahiri Chirashree, Sarkar S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:EPJ Web of Conferences
Online Access:https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/10/epjconf_iemphys2025_01003.pdf
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author Gupta Arkabrata
Biswas Tripti
Lahiri Chirashree
Sarkar S.
author_facet Gupta Arkabrata
Biswas Tripti
Lahiri Chirashree
Sarkar S.
author_sort Gupta Arkabrata
collection DOAJ
description We calculate the rates of β− decay of highly ionized long-lived and medium-lived fission products (LLFPs, MLFPs). These elements, produced as residues of nuclear fission in reactors, exhibit high radioactivity and prolonged half-lives, making them hazardous to the environment. To address this issue of nuclear waste management, we theoretically investigate the effects of β− decay in highly ionized atoms. In the context of bare and highly ionized atoms, the presence of available phase space facilitates the generation of an electron within an unoccupied atomic orbital, a new channel of β− decay i.e., the decay to the atomic bound state, opens along with the usual continuum state decay. As a result, the total β− decay rate increases, significantly reducing the half-lives of the atoms, when they are made highly ionized or bare. In this work, we have calculated the total β− decay half-lives in the case of highly ionized LLFPs (79Se, 93Zr, 99Tc) and MLFPs (137Cs, 151Sm, 121Sn, 147Pm, 125Sb, 155Eu, 113Cd), taking the contribution of both, the decay from continuum and bound states. Our calculations show that there will be a noticeable reduction in the half-life of the considered nuclei for highly ionized atomic configurations.
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-816c996b927e4c5ca57f5efca18f4d0b2025-08-20T02:26:10ZengEDP SciencesEPJ Web of Conferences2100-014X2025-01-013250100310.1051/epjconf/202532501003epjconf_iemphys2025_01003Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission productsGupta Arkabrata0Biswas Tripti1Lahiri Chirashree2Sarkar S.3Department of Basic Science and Humanities, Institute of Engineering and Management, University of Engineering and ManagementDepartment of Physics, Acharya Prafulla Chandra College, New BarrackporeDepartment of Physics, Surendranath Evening CollegeDepartment of Physics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and TechnologyWe calculate the rates of β− decay of highly ionized long-lived and medium-lived fission products (LLFPs, MLFPs). These elements, produced as residues of nuclear fission in reactors, exhibit high radioactivity and prolonged half-lives, making them hazardous to the environment. To address this issue of nuclear waste management, we theoretically investigate the effects of β− decay in highly ionized atoms. In the context of bare and highly ionized atoms, the presence of available phase space facilitates the generation of an electron within an unoccupied atomic orbital, a new channel of β− decay i.e., the decay to the atomic bound state, opens along with the usual continuum state decay. As a result, the total β− decay rate increases, significantly reducing the half-lives of the atoms, when they are made highly ionized or bare. In this work, we have calculated the total β− decay half-lives in the case of highly ionized LLFPs (79Se, 93Zr, 99Tc) and MLFPs (137Cs, 151Sm, 121Sn, 147Pm, 125Sb, 155Eu, 113Cd), taking the contribution of both, the decay from continuum and bound states. Our calculations show that there will be a noticeable reduction in the half-life of the considered nuclei for highly ionized atomic configurations.https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/10/epjconf_iemphys2025_01003.pdf
spellingShingle Gupta Arkabrata
Biswas Tripti
Lahiri Chirashree
Sarkar S.
Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products
EPJ Web of Conferences
title Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products
title_full Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products
title_fullStr Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products
title_full_unstemmed Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products
title_short Reduction in β− decay half-lives of highly ionized fission products
title_sort reduction in β decay half lives of highly ionized fission products
url https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/10/epjconf_iemphys2025_01003.pdf
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AT biswastripti reductioninbdecayhalflivesofhighlyionizedfissionproducts
AT lahirichirashree reductioninbdecayhalflivesofhighlyionizedfissionproducts
AT sarkars reductioninbdecayhalflivesofhighlyionizedfissionproducts