Journal of Nuclear Engineering & Technology

Nuclear Track Studies in India: A Historical Review

  1. Hardev Singh Virk

Abstract

Nuclear Tracks originate from the  spontaneous fission of Uranium in  minerals and can be revealed by etching with suitable chemical reagents as tracks. The applications of Nuclear Tracks were developed by R.L. Fleischer, P.B. Price and R.M. Walker in USA in various fields, viz., Geology, Biology, Archaeology, Nuclear Physics, Reactor Physics, Earthquake Studies and Space Physics. An historical review of Nuclear Track Studies in India is presented in this paper along with contributions made by the author's group. This technique became popular in developing countries as it involved minimal investments with maximum output of research publications in diverse fields.

Keywords

References (31)

  1. Young DA. Etching of Radiation Damage in Lithium Fluoride. Nature. 1958; 182: 375–377p.
  2. Silk ECH, Barnes RS. Examination of Fission Fragment Tracks with an Electron Microscope. Philos. Mag. 1959; 4(44): 970–972p.
  3. Price PB, Walker RM. Observation of Fossil Partic le Tracks in Natural Micas. Nature. 1962; 196: 732–734p.
  4. Price PB, Walker RM. Fossil Tracks of Charged Particles in Mica and the Age of Minerals. J. Geophys. Res. 1963; 68(16): 4847–4862p.
  5. Fleischer RL, Price PB, Walker RM. Solid- State Track Detectors: Ap plications to Nuclear Science and Geophysics. Annu. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 1965; 15: 1–28p.
  6. Fleischer RL, Price PB, Walker RM. Nuclear Tracks in Solids . Berkley: University of California Press; 1975.
  7. Virk HS. Cosmic Radiation Effects in Dhajala Meteorite. Curr. Sci. 1979; 48: 1067–1068p.
  8. Mehta PP, Rama. Annealing Effects in Muscovite and their Influence on Dating by Fission Track Method. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 1969; 7(1): 82–86p.
  9. Mehta PP, Nagpaul KK. Ind. J. Pure Appl. Phys. 1970; 8: 397–400p.
  10. Lal N, Saini HS, Nagpaul KK, et al . Tectonic and Cooling History of the Bihar Mica Belt, India, as Revealed by Fission - Track Analysis. Tectonophyics. 1976; 34: 163–180p.
  11. Virk HS and Koul SL. Optical detection of fossil fission tracks in minerals. Compt. Rend. Acad. of Sciences, Paris. 1974; 279: 477-478p.
  12. Virk HS, Koul SL. Fission Track Ages of Some Biotites of Bihar Mica Belt. Ind. J. Pure Appl. Phys. 1974; 12: 850–852p. Journal of Nuclear Engineering & Technology Volume 6, Issue 3 ISSN: 2277-6184(online), ISSN: 2321-6514(print) JoNET (2016) 1-7 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved Page 7
  13. Singh S and Virk HS. Fission track dating and uranium estimation in p egmatite minerals of Rajasthan State (India). Geochem. J. (Japan) 1978; 12: 271-274p.
  14. Virk HS and Koul SL. Fission track ages and Uranium estimation of Himalayan muscovites, Kathmandu valley (Nepal). J. Phys. of Earth 1977; 25: 177-186p.
  15. Virk HS and Koul SL. Uranium estimation in zircon by using lexan plastic as track detector. Compt. Rendu, Acad. of Sciences, Paris. 1977; 284: 295-297p.
  16. Virk HS and Kaur H. Estimation of uranium in plant and water samples. Curr. Sci. 1979; 48: 293 -295p.
  17. Virk HS. Origin and age of Tektites. Curr. Sci. 1977; 46: 583-585p.
  18. Virk HS and Singh S. Dating of iron ore formations (Calicut area) by fission track method. Ind. J. Pure and Appl. Phys. 1976; 14: 868-869p.
  19. Singh S and Virk HS. Fission track dating of copper ore formation of Khetri area, Rajasthan state (India). Geochem. J. (Japan) 1980; 14: 51-55p.
  20. Virk HS and Singh S. Inclusion dating and phase differentiation in minerals. Mineralog. J. of Japan 1978; 9: 39-40p.
  21. Virk HS and Koul SL. Annealing characteristics of induced fission tracks in micaceous minerals. Curr. Sci. 1975; 44:341-342p.
  22. Modgil SK and Virk HS. Track annealing studies in glasses and minerals. Nucl. Tracks and Rad. Meas. 1984; 8: 355- 360p.
  23. Virk HS. Modgil-Virk Formulation of Single Activation Energy Model of Radiation Damage Annealing in SSNTDs: A Critical Appraisal. In: Radiation Induced Modification of Materials (Ed. Hardev Singh Virk), Solid State Phenomena Series, Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland, 2015; 239: 215- 242p.
  24. Virk HS. Heavy Ion Track Route to Nanotechnology. Advanced Materials Research 2009; 67: 115-120p.
  25. Chakarvarti SK. Nano/microscopic patterning of low dimensional materials, sensors and devices through nano/micro moulds-nuclear track filters. Proceedings Volume XI National Symposium , G.N.D. University, Amritsar, India held on Oct. 12-14, 1998.
  26. Virk HS, Kaur S Amrita and Randhawa GS. Effects on insulators of swift -heavy- ions radiation: Ion track technology. J. of Phys. D: App. Phys . 1998; 31: 31 39- 3145p.
  27. Kaur S Amrita, Randhawa GS, Chakarvarti SK and Virk HS. Fabrication of metallic and polymeric microstructures using ion track filters. Ind. J. Pure and Appl. Phys. 1999; 37: 924-928p.
  28. Virk HS and Kaur S Amrita. Conduction of bacteria and blood cells through polycarbonate sieves. Ind. J. Pure Appl. Phys. 1995; 33: 350-352p.
  29. Virk H S and Kaur Amrita S. Ion Track Filters: Properties, Development and Applications. Curr. Sci . 1998; 75 (8): 765-770p.
  30. Virk HS, Kishore K and Balor ia V. Fabrication of Copper Nanowires by Electro-deposition using Anodic Alumina and Polymer Templates. Journal of Nano Research 2010; 10: 63-67p.
  31. Virk HS. Fabrication of Nanoflowers and Other Exotic Patterns. In: Functional Nanomaterials and their Applications. (Ed. Hardev Singh Virk), Solid State Phenomena Series, Trans Tech Publ. Switzerland. 2013; 201: 159 -180p. Cite this Article Hardev Singh Virk. Nuclear Track Studies in India: A Historical Review. Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Technology. 2016; 6(3):
Support