A student works in the radiochemistry lab.Dr. Paulenova's radiochemistry research group operates the Transuranic Element Laboratory (TRUELAB), located in the OSU Radiation Center. The elements beyond uranium in the Periodic Table of Elements (traditionally called TRU), especially plutonium and neptunium, have an intriguing chemistry, hence TRUE (true data on TRU Elements) become the name of our laboratory.

TRUELAB is a state-of-art laboratory equipped with the latest chemical analytical equipment for speciation studies of metals in aqueous, organic and micellar media. We are focused on chemistry of actinides and fission products, primarily lanthanides and technetium and molybdenum; however, also chemistry of other metals are of our great interest. While the optical spectroscopy and chromatography instrumentation is centralized in the rooms of the TRUELAB, the radiodetection and irradiation instrumentation is shared with other research residents of the Radiation Center.

TRUELAB Instrumentation:

  • UV-VIS-NIR double grating monochromator (OLIS Inc. RSM 1000 CLARiTY, with titrator and stopped-flow accessory)
  • NaI(Tl) automatic gamma counting and spectroscopy (Cobra Mk II, Perkin Elmer)
  • UV-VIS diode array spectrometer (Ocean Optics fiber optics QE65000)
  • Electrochemical station with accessory (Epsilon E-2, BASinc.)
  • FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy (ThermoFisher Nicolet)
  • Ion-exchange chromatography (DIONEX ICS-2000)
  • HPLC with ESI/MS (Finnigan LCQ)
  • Supporting equipment: anaerobic glovebox, pH meters, extractors, shakers, centrifuges, modern digital micropipettors, several fume hoods, etc.

Additional Radioanalytical Instrumentation:

  • Multi-user counting laboratory with Perkin Elmer 3180 LSC (w/alpha/beta) liquid scintillation counter and 3 HPGe detectors supporting graduate student research and the radiochemistry classes (RHP-516 and RHP-517)
  • Neutron-activation analysis specialized laboratory with several HPGe detectors, including an autosampler and a low background HPGe detector

Irradiation facilities:

  • Co-60 gamma-ray irradiator (Gammacell 220, dose rate 0.3 kGy/hr in 2012)
  • 1.1 MW TRIGA Research Reactor