[en] More than one year has passed since the terrible terrorist attacks against the United States. The tragic event fundamentally restructured our security policy approach and made requirements of countering terrorism a top priority of the 21st century. In one year a lot of studies were published and the majority of them analyses primarily the beginnings of terrorism then focus on the interrelations of causes and consequences of the attacks against the WTC. In most of the cases the authors can only put their questions most of which have remained unanswered to date. Meanwhile, in a short while after the attacks the secret assessments of threat levels of potential targets and areas were also prepared. One of the high priority fields is the issue of nuclear, biological, and chemical security, in short NBC-security. Here and now we focus on component N, that is the assessment techniques of nuclear security in short, without aiming at completeness. Our definite objective is to make non-expert readers understand - and present a concrete example as it is done in risk analysis - the real danger-level of nuclear facilities and especially the terrorist threat. Our objective is not to give tips to terrorists but to provide them with deterring arguments and at the same time calm worried people. In our communique we give an overview of international practice of nuclear antiterrorism and of preventive nuclear protection in Hungary. (author)

[en] Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis is an excellent tool to determine major, minor and trace elements in minuscule amounts of samples, making this technique very suitable for pigment analysis. Collecting minuscule amounts of pigment material from precious works of art by means of a cotton swab is a well-accepted sampling method, but poses specific challenges when TXRF is to be used for the characterization of the unknown material. (orig.)

[en] This study aims at evaluating the capabilities of synchrotron radiation micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SR micro-XRF) for qualitative and semi-quantitative elemental mapping of the distribution of actinides in human tissues originating from individuals with documented occupational exposure. The investigated lymph node tissues were provided by the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR) and were analyzed following appropriate sample pre-treatment. Semi-quantitative results were obtained via calibration by external standards and demonstrated that the uranium concentration level in the detected actinide hot spots reaches more than 100 μg/g. For the plutonium hot spots, concentration levels up to 31 μg/g were found. As illustrated by this case study on these unique samples, SR micro-XRF has a high potential for this type of elemental bio-imaging owing to its high sensitivity, high spatial resolution, and non-destructive character.

[en] The combined use of handheld energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and micro-energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry permitted the characterization of Roman glass tesserae excavation from the Coriglia (Italy) archeological site. Analyses of ten different glass colors were conducted as spot analyses on intact samples and as both spot analyses and line scans on select cross-sectioned samples. The elemental and molecular information gained from these spectral measurements allowed for the qualitative chemical characterization of the bulk glass, decolorants, opacifiers, and coloring agents. The use of an antimony opacifier in many of the samples supports the late Imperial phasing as determined through numismatic, fresco, ceramics, and architectural evidence. And dealinization of the exterior glass layers caused by the burial environment was confirmed. (orig.)

[en] Characterization of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) thin films with 17, 35 and 52 wt% butyryl is carried out to select the most suitable matrix material for the U and Pu containing large-sized dried spike reference material. The virgin CAB samples were aged by vibrations, heat, humidity, UV light and X-rays. Characterization was done by thermo-analytical techniques, gel permeation chromatography, mechanical tests and via Rayleigh and Compton scattering. The results show that CAB with lower butyryl content can withstand higher operational temperatures and has greater mechanical strength while CAB with higher butyryl content seems to be more resistant to radiation. (author)

[en] The influence of X-ray resonant Raman scattering on the detection capabilities of copper(II) tetrasulphonated phthalocyanine (CuTSPc) thin-films on gold electrodes has been investigated by means of synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence. In particular the paper focuses on the influence of the excitation energy in the relative narrow energy region of 9.2 to 11.7 keV on the detection limits and the peak-to-background ratios of copper

[en] Glass polycapillary optics are shown to be easy to use focusing optics for bending magnet XAS stations. These achromatic optics have acceptances of several mm horizontally and vertically, while their angular acceptances can be matched to the source divergence by the design of the polycapillary. A polycapillary half-lens based focusing system was successfully tested for transmission and fluorescence μ-XAS at the DUBBLE beamline (BM26A, ESRF) and the feasibility of confocal μ-XANES in fluorescence mode is presented. Transmission efficiencies of 25-45% with flux density gain factors of about 2000 and beam sizes of 10-20 μm were obtained in the 7-14 keV energy range. Although the polycapillary optic has a smoothly changing energy dependent transmission efficiency, the amplitude and shape of the EXAFS oscillations are not influenced by this. The focusing properties of the polycapillary lens cancel slight vertical motions of the incoming X-ray beam, resulting in a fixed μ-beam spot in the focal plane, making polycapillaries also suitable optic in combination with a non-fixed exit monochromator. In addition, by mounting a second polycapillary half-lens in front of an energy dispersive detector, a confocal set-up is obtained, which restricts the part of the sample seen by the detector to a microscopic volume of about 20x20x15 μm³ at the Fe K absorption edge for example.

[en] New reference materials consisting of cobalt thin films on gold were prepared by sputter deposition. The thickness and homogeneity of the films were characterized using synchrotron radiation micro-XRF. The samples can be used as reference materials to quantify cobalt phthalocyanine and cobalt porphyrin modified gold electrodes which have been analyzed with synchrotron radiation micro-XRF

[en] This work presents the recent developments of xraylib, an ANSI C library that provides convenient access to a large number of X-ray related databases, with a focus on quantitative X-ray fluorescence applications. The enhancements include improved X-ray fluorescence production cross sections that take into account cascade effects and M-lines, as well as revised line energies, atomic level widths, Compton broadening profiles etc. A full overview of the complete application programming interface is presented. - Highlights: ► Xraylib is a library for X-ray–matter interactions useful for XRF applications. ► Xraylib has recently been updated with many new features. ► The complete application programming interface is presented. ► Xraylib is released under the open source BSD license and can be obtained from github.

[en] A quantification tool for energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectral data is presented, based on the application of Monte Carlo simulations in an iterative, inverse manner. Acting as an open-source plug-in to the widespread PyMca package, it provides users with a superior alternative to the fundamental parameter method based built-in quantification tool, taking into account higher order interactions, M-lines and cascade effects. Examples are shown demonstrating the usefulness of our implementation through data recorded at the synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microprobe installed at the HASYLAB Beamline L, Hamburg, Germany. - Highlights: ► A new quantification tool for ED-XRF data is presented. ► The routines are based on the iterative application of Monte Carlo simulations. ► The implementation can be called from within the widespread PyMca package. ► The code is provided under the open-source GPL license at github