$^{14}$C in uranium and thorium minerals: a signature of cluster radioactivity?

R. Bonetti; A. Guglielmetti; G. Poli; E. Sacchi; D. Fink; M.A.C. Hotchkis; G.E. Jacobsen; E.M. Lawson; Q. Hua; A.M. Smith; C. Tuniz

doi:doi:10.1007/s100500050279

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2024 Impact factor 2.8

Hadrons and Nuclei

Eur. Phys. J. A 5, 235-238

¹⁴C in uranium and thorium minerals: a signature of cluster radioactivity?

R. Bonetti¹ - A. Guglielmetti¹ - G. Poli¹ - E. Sacchi² - D. Fink³ - M.A.C. Hotchkis³ - G.E. Jacobsen³ - E.M. Lawson³ - Q. Hua³ - A.M. Smith³ - C. Tuniz³

¹ Istituto di Fisica Generale Applicata dell'Università di Milano and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, Milano, Italy
² Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, Torino, Italy
³ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Sydney, Australia

Received: 15 February 1999 Communicated by B. Povh

Abstract
Various uranium and thorium minerals have been analysed with accelerator mass spectrometry to determine their ¹⁴C content. It is found that, whenever the contribution from secondary reactions such as the ¹¹B( $\alpha$ ,p)¹⁴C is sufficiently low, the ¹⁴C concentration is consistent with that expected from ¹⁴C (spontaneous) cluster radioactivity from radium isotopes of the uranium and thorium natural series.