Uranium-sensitive tomography with synchrotron radiation

Element-sensitive tomography produces quality information in the field of m edical imaging. This method, also known as dichromatic tomography, can be u seful to visualize the distribution of heavy elements, such as actinides, w ithout destroying the sample. One of the problems is to obtain a monochroma tic photon beam of sufficiently high energy; the other is to have a way of recording these high-energy photons with a good spatial resolution. Here, t he results of a first experiment on uranium mapping with synchrotron radiat ion are reported. Various natural and artificial samples of a few centimetr es in size with uranium concentration between 0.008 g cm(-3) and 2 g cm(-3) were scanned using photon beams around 115 keV and a specially designed ca mera. The data were then analysed using a conventional fast reconstruction technique. This yielded excellent results with spatial resolutions down to 50 mu m. For the first time it was shown that element-sensitive tomography using synchrotron radiation could be extended to the heaviest natural eleme nt. Therefore, in principle, the spatial distribution of any element can no w be reconstructed using synchrotron radiation. Extension of this technique to very heavy elements can be important for geology, health physics and nu clear waste storage.