Mission of the Central Radionuclide Laboratory
Radionuclides are used in many fields of science and
technology. Due to their radioactivity, they can be detected
easily at extremely low concentrations, some nuclides can be
detected even atom by atom.
This unique property makes them a very powerful tool in
chemistry, biology, physics and process engineering: Carrier
free radionuclides are used in the investigation of chemical
equilibria at extremely low concentrations, radiolabeled
compounds are used widely in reaction kinetics investigations
and in structure determination experiments. They are
indispensable both in chemistry and biology and can provide
very useful insights in technological processes.
Furthermore, some important chemical elements exist only in
form of radioactive nuclides. The chemical investigation of
these elements is part of the broader field of radiochemistry.
In particular, all actinide nuclides are radioactive. The
unique chemical properties of the actinides is aim of
fundamental science for decades. Additionally, one of the
global challenges of our time, the construction of safe
depositories for the high-level radioactive waste from nuclear
fission power plants, requires a very thorough understanding of
the environmental chemistry of these elements. This topic has a
long tradition in the Dresden area (see our Scientific Topics).
The Central Radionuclide Laboratory of the TU Dresden is a modern laboratory. It provides the opportunity for working with many radionuclides, amongst them the actinide elements, in open form. It has the neccesary legal license and holds the whole standard equipment for the measurement of radionuclides (see our Lab Equipment).
The Central Radionuclide Laboratory is open for all the scientific personell of TU Dresden and their co-operation partners which want or need to work with open radionuclides.