PIXS: Portable Imaging X-ray Fluorescence System

科学界已经确定了一些重大挑战，STFC的专业知识可以帮助解决这些挑战。其中，核废料（来自核电工业的现有废料和计划中的新核电站未来产生的废料）的处理以及二氧化碳的捕获和储存被视为保障电力供应和减少温室气体变暖的关键。地下储存库是解决这些挑战的一种方法。在全球范围内，正在花费大量资金来探索各种储存方法、储存库类型和监测系统。该项目旨在开发和测试便携式成像x射线荧光系统（PIXS）的原型，用于利用空间研究中心在x射线荧光（成像和非成像）方面的专业知识建立地质储存库，用于行星探测，包括小猎犬2号和比皮科伦坡水星任务。与Bruker Elemental合作开发手持式XRD/XRF仪器的当前项目也与拟议的PIXS开发高度协同。

There are a number of major challenges that have been identified for the scientific community which expertise from the STFC could help to address. Of these, disposal of nuclear waste (existing waste from the nuclear power industry and future waste from the planned new nuclear power stations) and the capture and storage of carbon dioxide are seen as critical for security of electricity supply and to reduce greenhouse warming. Subsurface repositories are one way in which these challenges may be addressed. Across the globe a significant amount of funding is being expended in exploring a variety of storage methods, repository types and monitoring systems.The project aims to develop and test a prototype Portable Imaging X-ray Fluorescence System (PIXS) for use in geological repositories building on Space Research Centre expertise in XRF (imaging and non-imaging) for planetary exploration including Beagle 2 and the BepiColombo mission to Mercury. A current project to develop a handheld XRD/XRF instrument in conjunction with Bruker Elemental is also highly synergistic with the proposed development of PIXS.