LA12143-PR Progren Report Isotope dnd Nuclecqr Chemistry Division Ann vial Report FY 1990^ .. •• %-•-' V \ ? L«>Alaa^Natkif^'ljri>oratoryk operated by the UnhrcnUy of Colitbr^ Geologists inspect the Devil's Thumb Sinkhole, which is located in travertine at the base of the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces, before injecting multiple tracers to determine flow paths, transit times, and chemical Water from Boiling River (Mammoth Hot reaction processes in a natural aquifer. Hot Springs) was sampled at many intervals during a water from pools on top of this terrace flows multicomponent tracer experiment. Analysis of over the orange travertine and down into the data from this major outflow of the Mammoth sinkhole. Inactive travertine is grey; the oldest system (-40°C and 27 f&ls flow rate) provides deposits support several types of trees. information about the flow path, transit titles, and chemical reaction processes of a natural aquifer. This information is used to test hypotheses and field approaches for characterizing geothermal, petroleum, and environmental reservoirs. A team of geologists collected more than 250 samples over an 18-hr period at Boiling River —one of many remote field sample processing sites—during the multicomponent tracer experiment. In this wilderness area, team members used the environmentally benign transport system (shown in red) to move equipment and samples. Closeup of the Devil's Thumb Sinkhole shows wet, actively depositing travertine in orange and old, degrading travertine in white. These moths caught in the hot springs were fossilized as hydrothermal solutions flowed across the ground surface at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. The mini-cascade and trapped bubble features, as well as the coating on the moths, formed during precipitation of travertine and exsolution of dissolved gases. Subtle purple and yellow tints on raised features are indicative of algae, which control the structure formation. (Photos on cover and this page: Dale E. Spall) Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division Annual Report FY 1990 October 1, 1989—September 30, 1990 . i Alexander J. Gancarz, Division Leader '•<*• Abstract This report describes some of the major research and development programs of the Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division during FY 1990. The report includes articles on weapons chemistry, environmental chemistry, actinide and transition metal chemistry, geochemistry, nuclear structure and reactions, biochemistry and nuclear medicine, materials chemistry, and INC Division facilities and laboratories. iv Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division Annual Report FY 1990 Contents Point of View 2 Overview 4 1. Weapons Chemistry Overview 14 Radiochemistry of the Rare-Earth Elements 16 Isotope Separators: Three Steps Forward 18 Instrumentation for High Dynamic Range Isotopic Analysis 20 2. Environmental Chemistry Overview 24 Isotopic Analysis of Environmental Samples 26 Determining Co-Contaminant Speciation on Environmental Substrates 28 Biodegradation of TNT 30 3. Actinide and Transition Metal Chemistry Overview 34 Convenient Entry into the Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry of Thorium 36 Stereochemical Consequences of Electronic Structure 38 Synthesis of the First Technetium(VII) Imido Complexes 40 4. Geochemistry Overview 44 Multicomponent Tracer Experiments at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone 46 Using Surface Ages to Understand Geological Processes 48 Geochemical Studies Using Long-Lived Members of the Uranium Decay Series 50 5. Nuclear Structure and Reactions Overview 54 Direct Mass Measurements of the Neutron-Rich Isotopes of Fluorine through Chlorine 56 SNOing in Los Alamos—Neutrinos in the Nineties 58 The Exotic-Beam Facility—A New Initiative 60 6. Biochemistry and Nuclear Medicine Overview 64 Metabolism of Methylotrophic Bacteria 66 Structure of Cytochrome £ Oxidases: Sequence and Analysis oftheSubunit lie Gene 68 Labeled Biologically Active Peptides for Myasthenia Gravis Research 70 7. Materials Chemistry Overview 74 Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Low-Dimensional Materials 76 Radioisotope Research and Development: Materials Issues in Targetry 78 Conductivity of Polystyrene Film When Exposed to Nitrogen Dioxide: A Novel NO2 Sensor 80 8. Division Facilities and Laboratories INC-Division Facilities and Laboratories 84 Omega West Reactor 88 Radioisotope Research Facility and Applications 92 Mass Spectrometry Facilities 94 Appendix Division Personnel 98 Advisory Committee 101 Program Funding 102 Publications 106 Presentations 114 Division Meetings and Seminars 124 References 126 Acknowledgements Production Team: Editor: Jody Heiken Illustrators: Ward Zaelke (INC-DO/IS-12), Garth Tietjen (INC-DO/IS-12), and Janey Heads tream Designer: Garth Tietjen (INC-DO/IS-12) Editorial Assistant: Molly Minahan Production Assistant: Janey Headstream Technical Reviewers: Sec. 1 Mary Anne Yates Sec. 2 Eugene J. Peterson Sec. 3 Carol J. Burns Sec. 4 David R. Janecky Sec. 5 Gilbert W. Butler Sec. 6 Dennis Phillips and Clifford J. Unkefer Sec. 7 Alfred P. Sattelberger Sec. 8 Jose A. Olivares Contributors: Joann Brown Carla Lowe Lori Abney Elaine Roybal Cathy Schuch Photographers: Cover and inside front cover: Dale Spall (CLS-1); articles: Henry Ortega (IS-9) Printing Coordinator: Guadalupe Archuleta (IS-9) vi Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division Annual Report FY 1990 OVERVIEW J-* -*• Overview Point of View production, and education. We have also been asked to consider the possibility of using the Omega West Reactor to produce "mTc, the Alexander J. Gancarz most widely used medical isotope. The second arena in which we are 1990 was a year of transition for INC aggressively pursuing new opportunities is Division. We made significant shifts in our environmental chemistry. We have helped to strategic focus, particularly in the Biochemistry- staff the newly created Los Alamos Technology Nuclear Medicine and Environmental Chemistry Office at Rocky Flats, whose mission is to find arenas. We developed a new perspective and matches between the needs at Rocky Flats and approach to environment, safety, and health the technological expertise at Los Alamos. issues. We also underwent major leadership We have successfully participated in several changes in the Division. From my point of view, initiatives, and we are optimistic about the these transitions were made quite successfully. future of this program. We are also developing new programs with the DOE Office of INC Division first identified strategic Environmental Restoration and Waste opportunities in the Biochemistry-Nuclear Management. These efforts range from basic Medicine arena in 1985; Environmental technology development to local Los Alamos Chemistry was targeted in 1988. Over the site characterization and remediation past several years, we have continued to activities. build our capabilities in both of these areas. Another area of transition was in our Our efforts in biochemistry have resulted approach to and execution of the Division's in several new programs. A particularly environment, safety, and health (ES&H) interesting example is the project to identify responsibilities. We have always taken very microbes that degrade TNT and to optimize the seriously our charge to ensure the safest process for large-scale use. Sites contaminated possible working conditions and to minimize the with TNT and other explosives are a large impact of our operations on the environment. national problem and, consequently, this However, the increased emphasis on ES&H initiative offers significant potential for nationally and within the DOE requires that we growth. In the nuclear medicine field, we have be even more scrupulous in these areas and that made substantial programmatic advances and we implement a much more formal approach to see major opportunities. This year, the INC- our operations. This effort—as well as the developed 82Sr/82Rb medical radioisotope challenge of solving the Laboratory's legacy generator was approved by the US Food of environmental problems—has been a major and Drug Administration. The generator, task for the Division, in both time and dollars. successfully marketed to the medical I deeply appreciate the effort made by each and community, is being used for in vivo imaging every INC Division employee to address the past in hospitals and clinics throughout the US. and to change our way of conducting business in In the research portion of the nuclear medicine accordance with the new ES&H culture. program, there have been significant advances in the early detection of lung cancer. This This has also been a year of transition in progress was achieved by using the 67 leadership for the Division. I was selected to radioisotope Cu produced at the LAMPF head the Division following Donald Barr's Medical Radioisotope Production Facility. retirement in January 1990. It was an honor The future in this area looks both exciting to be chosen for this position. Al Sattelberger and promising. The US DOE has invited us to joined the Division Office in September to be participate in the development of a National the Deputy Division Leader. We both look Biomedical Tracer Facility for research, isotope forward to leading INC Division into the 1990s. Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division Annual Report FY 1990 Overview Merle Bunker, whose association with the Laboratory covers 40 years and who has been the Group Leader of the Research Reactor Group since 1974, also retired in January 1990. We will certainly miss his leadership. Don Hull, who has many years of reactor