Thermal annealing of fission tracks in synthetic apatites

Abstract

Synthetic analogues of poor-silicated natural apatites have been doped with uranium. These minerals have been irradiated with a thermal neutron dose in the aim to induce the 235U fission and to obtain a fission track population. Thermal annealing experiments have been performed on the fission track population and allow us to compare the ability of the synthetic minerals to anneal such nuclear damages with their natural analogues. The thermal of the fission tracks in the synthetic minerals need more time and/or higher temperature to reach the same annealing rate as in the natural analogues. The alpha damage present in the natural analogues seems to enhance the thermal annealing of fission tracks.