An innovative method for determining the diffusion coefficient of product nuclide

Diffusion is a crucial mechanism that regulates the migration of radioactive nuclides. In this study, an innovative numerical method was developed to simultaneously calculate the diffusion coefficient of both parent and, afterward, series daughter nuclides in a sequentially reactive through-diffusion model. Two constructed scenarios, a serial reaction (RN_1 → RN_2 → RN_3) and a parallel reaction (RN_1 → RN_2A + RN_2B), were proposed and calculated for verification. First, the accuracy of the proposed three-member reaction equations was validated using several default numerical experiments. Second, by applying the validated numerical experimental concentration variation data, the as-determined diffusion coefficient of the product nuclide was observed to be identical to the default data. The results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. The significance of the proposed numerical method will be particularly powerful in determining the diffusion coefficients of systems with extremely thin specimens, long periods of diffusion time, and parent nuclides with fast decay constants.