PRIME Lab Research

The cosmogenic nuclides measured by AMS at PRIME Lab include ¹⁰Be,¹⁴C, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, ⁴¹Ca and ¹²⁹I. They are produced in meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials by intense cosmic radiation with target materials, in the Earth's atmosphere by cosmic ray spallation of target elements (Garden variety), and on the solid surface of the earth by cosmic ray spallation, thermal neutron and muon captures, and other nuclear reactions with principal target atoms. In addition, nuclear weapon tests and nuclear fuel reprocessing also produce ¹⁰Be , ¹⁴C, ³⁶Cl and ¹²⁹I. Table 1 shows some cosmgenic nuclides with half-lives and major targets.

Table 1. Major Cosmogenic Nuclides

Nuclide	Half-life(Yr)	Major Targets() = in atmosphere
14C	5,730	O, Mg, Si, Fe (N)
41Ca	1.04 x 105	Ca, Ti, Fe
36Cl	3.01 x 105	Cl, K, Ca, Fe,Ti, (Ar)
26Al	7.05 x 105	Si, Al, Fe, (Ar)
10Be	1.36 x 106	O, Mg, Si, Fe, (N, O)
53Mn	3.7 x 106	Fe
129I	1.56 x 107	Te, Ba, La, Ce, (Xe)

PRIME Lab Research List

The ever-increasing diversity of researches at PRIME Lab through the collaborations from nationwide to worldwide have been being made great contribution to the following areas:

Earth and Space Science

• Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide production rates
• Atmospheric processes (D.Knies Thesis: Cosmogenic radionuclides in precipitation)
• Paleoclimatology
• Geomorphology
  • Landform history and dynamics
  • River incision process
  • Soil erosion
  • Volcanic eruptions (PDF)
• Neotectonics
• Glaciology
  • Chronology of glaciations and climatic interpretations
  • Glacial landforms and erosion
  • Glacial reconstructions
• Hydrology
  • Dating very old ground water
  • Dating young ground water
  • Groundwater recharge rates
  • Climate change and water resources
• Cosmic ray exposure of meteorites
• Solar variability

Energy and Mineral Resources application

• Dating of petroleum fluids
• Methane-rich fluid migration in shallow geosphere
• Geothermal Energy
  • Tracing geothermal fluids
• Waste disposal
  • Dating ground water at high-level nuclear waste disposal sites
  • Natural analogs for high level waste sites
  • Soil-water movement at low-level waste sites
  • Effect of climate change on waste repositories

Biological Sciences

• Tracing organic molecules with ¹⁴C
• Measuring bone resorption rates with ⁴¹Ca
• Studying the effectiveness of adjuvants in vaccines with ²⁶Al

Health physics

Reconstruction of Hiroshima and Chernobyl dosimety

Nuclear safety and safeguard

• Wide-area environmental monitoring to detect signatures of undeclared nuclear activities
• Environmental monitoring around nuclear power reactors and reprocessing plants

Archaeology - Human evolution

• Canteen Koppie (S. Africa)
• Zhoukoudian (China)
• Yunxian (China)
• Atapuerca (Spain)