COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR NUCLEAR ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

1. COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR NUCLEAR ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

2. GLOBAL POTENTIALS OF NAA LABORATORIES • 110 Research Reactor based NAA labs worldwide • On average 3 counting facilities per lab • Average 10-20 samples per day can be processed, 150 days per year makes up 1,500 – 3,000 samples per detector per year. Maximum capacity per NAA lab: 5,000 – 10,000 samples/year. • If average cost per analysis are set at US$ 100, the max. world turnover amounts to 50 – 100 M USD/year. • But: in practice laboratories run at ~ 10 % capacity • Expected realistic growth, based also on availability of samples with minimal effort, ~ 20 % capacity leading to realistic world turnover of 10 – 20 M USD/year • possible increase to ~ 50 M USD/year may be developed.

3. GLOBAL POTENTIALS OF NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPY LABORATORIES • Similar estimate can be made for nuclear spectrometry labs (, ,  including gross alpha/beta) • estimated 2 labs/country, 200 countries world wide, 3 detectors/lab • 300,000 – 500,000 samples per year for radioactivity monitoring • average price per analysis ~ 50 USD • annual turnover estimated: 15 – 25 M USD/year • The socio-economic impact, however, is multi-fold as these measurements add to public health, emergency preparedness and import/export issues.

4. NICHES FOR NAA • Material, difficult to decompose and/or samples in which elements may be lost during dissolution. • Precious materials that must be preserved, not dissolved • Materials for which other methods of analysis have difficulties in the calibration step due to chemical matrix effects. • Analyses requiring a high degree of accuracy, but even more reliability, to ensure full comparability of data obtained over a long period of time. • Materials with a high degree of inhomogeneity, requiring large analytical portion to ensure representativeness.

5. NICHES FOR NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPY • Food industry: control of water and food, especially in areas with high natural abundance of Th and U • Building industry: control of building materials (Ra, K) • Chemical industry: control of manufacturing and recycling • Mineral and oil exploration: control of natural radioactivity such as 210Po, 210Pb • Customs: measurement of imported products • Trade: control of import and certification of export • Health: Rn monitoring in houses and offices • Environmental monitoring: radioecology

6. SOME SPIN-OFFS • Industry: Optimization of manufacturing and recycling processes; insight in waste streams. • Nuclear industry: Assays in all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, from Uranium exploration toward waste depositories. Contribution to control of illegal trafficking. • Mining: Determination of new resources, environmental and radiological impact of e.g. waste tailings. • Trade: International acceptance of products. • Agriculture: Quality of soil; insight in essential elements for crop growth; quality of fertilizers. • Health care: Insight in nutritional quality of food, reduction of under-nourishment, toxic effects of inorganic substances, trace element metabolism in man and animal. • Forensics: Investigation of fraud, insurance cases, crime investigation. • Environmental: Insight in sources of inorganic air pollution, quality of soil and water resources, quality of domestic, hospital and industrial waste streams, background/reference values of unpolluted areas. • Metrology and standards: Development of reference materials for quality control and traceability. • Archaeology and art history: Origin and authenticity of historical objects, including art; identification of fraud and illegal trafficking

7. DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

8. Neutron Activation Analysis INAA FACILITIES IN DELFT 3 coaxial detectors with sample changers (17 %, 30 %, 80 %)1 low-energy detector3 well-type detectors with sample changers (125 cc, 125 cc, 250 cc)2 fast rabbit systems (one with sample changer) with coaxial detectors(10 % and 40 %)1 large volume coaxial detector (96 %) for large sample INAA Maximum capacity ca. 15,000 samples per yearPractical use ca. 2,500 samples per yearNo of capsules (samples, flux monitors,blanks, control samples) ca. 7,500 samples per yearNo. of spectra analysed ca. 20,000 per yearQualified users 6Maximum throughput per user (full multielement analysis) ca. 1,000 samples per year

9. Neutron Activation Analysis Local area network Sample Changer Detector Buffered interface/sample changer control module 12 gamma-ray spectrometers, 6 sample changers, fast rabbit sample changer, large sample scanner

10. Neutron Activation Analysis

11. INAA Market Developments Geology (rocks, minerals)  ICP-MS Sediments  Limited because ofNational norms Environmental  Emphasis on water High-purity Si wafers  Production now controlled Plastics  XRF Nail clippings Hi-Tech materials Animal fodder

12. Fitness for the Purpose ? - Protocol, “traditional” amongst NAA specialists: Sample masses up to 300 mg Irradiations during 1-4 h Decay 1 week and 3 weeks Counting 1 - 4 h OVERKILL: Too long turn-around times Too much information Counting statistics too good

13. Fitness for the Purpose ? Standardized protocol 200 mg 4 h irradiation, 1 h count after 5 days, 1 h count after 21 daysReporting after 7 days or after 24 days Custom-tailored protocol 5 - 500 mg1 -4 h irradiation 30 m - 1 h count after 2 days, 4 h count after 8 daysReporting within 5 days or within 10 days

14. Fitness for the Purpose : Smart Protocols Total turnaround time 5 days Perception of client: 2 (working) days….

15. Fitness for the Purpose

16. Fitness for the Purpose

17. Fitness for the Purpose Experience in Delft Hardly requests for demonstrating the accuracy of INAA; Customers simply assume that the results you provide them are accurate.

18. Costs and Tariffs • Analysis costs’ based on • Depreciation of equipment 40 % • Labor 50 % • Consumables 5 % • Accreditation 5 %

19. Costs and Tariffs • Industry: Never discussion • Government: sometimes tenders • Academics: Always a problem • Many research funding organizations do not accept a budget for analyses

20. Tariffs of Other Commercial Trace Element Analysis Laboratories AAS, per element € 23 ICP-OES, per element 9 XRF, per element 86 Sample preparation 28 – 68 Method development ≥ 700 Discounts: reporting standard: within 10 days reporting < 30 days - 25 % reporting < 5 days + 10 % reporting < 2 days + 25 %

21. Tariffs of Other Commercial Trace Element Analysis Laboratories AAS ICP XRF Sample destruction 28 28 5 elements 115 45 430 5 days’ turn around time 12 5 43 Measurement in weekend 127 50 476 Total € 392 128 949 Delft INAA tariff 5 elements, 1 measurement € 87.50-100 Delft, full multi-element analysis INAA € 205

22. Too slowNot automated Retiring staff, inexperienced newcomers Niches for NAA ? Be careful… Multi-element ? Non-destructive ? Sensitive ? Accurate ? ICP too LA-ICP, SS-AAS, TR-XRF too ICP, AAS, AMS too, and often much better You better be !

23. New Tools for NAA/NAT Groups Technical improvements Better and bigger detectors, up to 200 % rel.eff. (max. Ø 10 cm , Length 12 cm Volume appr. 900 cm3) High count rate electronics Large samples Position-sensitive (strip) detectors More software (MC, image processing) Remaining shortcomings No automation Not equipped for parallel requests High value after +/- sign Black box Not always customer oriented optimization

24. Bigger Detectors Absolute photopeak efficiency 3 %90 % 560 cm3 well 0.3 %20 % 75 cm3 (17 %) 4 cm Photon energy, keV

25. 0,01 0,1 1 0,01 0,1 0,25-0,3 1 0,01 0,1 0,15-0,25 1 0,01 0,1 1 Bigger Detectors Typical improvement in detection limits Arbitrary units 20 % 100 % well125 cm3 well560 cm3 0,07 - 0,1

26. Higher Count Rates Peak area Peak position and resolution (ORTEC DSPEC Plus)

27. Use of Large Sample Masses ? + Larger mass compensates low neutron flux with small and medium flux reactors + Better signal-to-blank ratio + Better representativeness of population sampled - Larger sample-detector distance

28. 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 Use of Large Sample Masses Homogenization problems Representative sampling problems Non-invasive localization of inhomogeneities g) m Sc amount per voxel ( Height relative to CM sample (cm)

29. Use of Large Sample Masses • Electronic Waste • Inhomogeneous Minerals, Mine Tailings • Food products • Environmental samples (e.g. downfall from trees) • Drill Cores, Inhomogeneous topsoil • Archaeological and Cultural Artifacts • Complete organs/carcasses

30. Threats for NAT’s & NAG’s John Lenihan’s precepts nos. 1 and 3 for making mistakes in solving problems 1. Never mind the question, let’s get some answers 2. Never mind the signal, let’s enjoy the noise 3. If it’s been done before, keep on doing it 4. If we can’t think of a simple answer, let’s look for a complicated one 5. If the answer is not what we want, let’s try the “fudge factor” 6. Never mind the target, aim at what we can see

31. CONCLUSION There is a market for nuclear analytical laboratories Go find the customers But: It takes months to find a customer, and seconds to loose him !

32. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING