Nuclear Chemistry/Radiochemistry

Radiochemistry or nuclear chemistry is the study of radiation from an atomic and molecular prospect, including elemental transformation and reaction effects, as well as physical, health, and medical properties.

Nuclear Chemistry:

Nuclear Chemistry is the sub-branch of chemistry handled with radioactivity, nuclear processes, and transformations in the nuclei of atoms, such as nuclear transmutation and nuclear properties. Nuclear chemistry is handled with the properties of and changes to atomic nuclei, as exposed to traditional chemistry, which includes properties and changes correlated to the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. It comprises the study of the production and use of radioactive sources for a range of processes. These include radiotherapy in medical applications; the use of radioactive tracers within industry, science, and the environment, and the use of radiation to change materials such as polymers.

It also includes the study and use of nuclear processes in non-radioactive areas of human activity. For example, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is generally used in synthetic organic chemistry and physical chemistry and for structural analysis in macromolecular chemistry. Nuclear chemistry treated with the study of the nucleus, changes occurring in the nucleus, properties of the particles present in the nucleus, and the emission or absorption of radiation from the nucleus.

Radiochemistry:

Radiochemistry is the chemistry of radioactive materials. It includes the study of chemical transformations of radioactive substances, dealing with actinides and transuranium elements, development of physicochemical principles of managing radioactive waste from nuclear power engineering, solving radioecology problems. Much of radiochemistry deals with the use of radioactivity to study common chemical reactions. This is very diverse from radiation chemistry where the radiation levels are kept extremely low to influence the chemistry.