Analytics
Chromium speciation analysis of waste water from PSI facilities
The Hotlab is a unique facility in Switzerland for the safe and hazard-free investigation of the properties of highly toxic, radioactive substances and materials. Through the Post-Processing Radioactive Materials group (NRM), the Hotlab also has expertise in waste treatment and is responsible for the disposal of active and inactive wastewater from all PSI facilities East of the Aare River. In the case of wastewater that is measured to be free of radioactive materials, the Hotlab facility follows the Swiss Water Protection Ordinance (814.201) to safely dispose of this material, including the differentiation between polluted and non-polluted wastewater.
Successful preparation for microstructure representation in Zircaloy-4 using light microscopy
Successful preparation for microstructure representation in Zircaloy-4 using light microscopy
New Focused Ion Beam (FIB) in the Hot Laboratory
The implementation of Focused Ion Beam instruments in material research laboratories during the last decade has not only strongly improved the preparation of very thin specimens for the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), in particular at interfaces, but also led to the development of new analysis methods inside the instrument itself. It became a powerful instrument for the analyses of highly radioactive materials, because it allows for the production and analysis of very small specimens that can be then analyzed with very sensitive detectors without strong interference from the radiation field of the specimen itself.