FIRST LENT-1 GAMMA SPECTRA
Courtesy of Trenergy, Inc.
FIRST LENT-1 GAMMA SPECTRA
Courtesy of Trenergy, Inc.
Note to the Internet critics: Dr. Shang-Xian Jin, a highly-awarded Chinese scholar (whose work is the definitive Chinese text on plasma physics for Chinese scientists), with some scientific and wordsmith help from Hal Fox, has prepared this preliminary report. A more extensive paper will be submitted for peer-review and published in the next issue of the Journal of New Energy.
The Trenergy laboratory used a Ludlum Measurements, Inc., Sodium Iodide detector, Model 4410-D; the Aptec Autobias PC Card (AHV-1PC); the Aptec PC multi-channel analyzer (Series 5000 MCArd); and the Aptec Basic Display and Acquisition Software (PCMCA/SUPER). This combination provides a relatively low-cost (about $5,000) gamma-ray spectroscope.
Each gamma ray striking the sodium-iodide crystal (2 in. dia x 2 in. long) produces a burst of electrons. The detector assembly uses an electron multiplier and a signal splitter which produces negative-going pulses ranging from a few millivolts to a few volts, depending on the energy level of the incoming gamma ray. Most of the gamma counts in the low-energy (X-Ray) energy level come from the background sources, such as cosmic rays, spurious electronic signals, radioactive contaminations and the particular source being measured (including gamma-ray scattering, X-ray production, beta particles or bremsstrahlung). The computer software allows for selection of lower energy bounds to be displayed. Because the background radiation for a specific setup can be subtracted from experimental spectra, it is rigorously necessary to take background radiation spectra with each experiment.
In the accompanying figure, the gamma-ray spectroscope was "calibrated" using a small amount of powdered thorium nitrate. If there are no nuclear reactions produced by the LENT-1 reactor, then the spectra obtained from (for example) the zirconium disk electrode should be consistent in various peaks with the thorium spectrum. Obviously, if the reactor was merely plating thorium and its daughter products onto the reactor electrodes, the shapes of the two spectra would be highly similar.
The second spectrum was obtained by placing a zirconium disk electrode immediately in front of the sodium iodide detector in the same manner as used for the thorium sample. It is evident that there is considerable difference between the spectra of the thorium nitrate and the spectrum for the disk electrode (see the accompanying figure).
Because this data was taken only one day before press time for this issue of New Energy News, there has not been sufficient time to carefully calibrate and analyze the data to identify which isotopes may be responsible for the disk gamma spectrum. The analysis will look for the Protactinium-232, gamma energy level (312 KeV) and, of course, other possible expected nuclear reaction sources. If identified, then it will be reasonable to claim that one of the identified nuclear reactions is the fusion of a proton with Thorium-232 to produce Pa-233.
If our hypothesis is correct we expect to find evidence of a considerable amount of neutron shedding by neutrons emitting electrons and becoming protons in short-term radioactivity. It is expected that there will be a variety of beta-emission reactions with a variety of specific gamma-ray energy levels that can be detected.
With proper funding and with better gamma-ray spectroscopes, it is a reasonable goal to identify all (or, at least, a majority) of the nuclear reactions resulting from the transmutation of thorium in the LENT-1 reactor.
www.padrak.com/ine/NEN_5_8_3.html
Dec. 10, 1997.