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The effective half-life of a broad beam 238Pu/Be total body neutron irradiator

K J Ellis

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A broad-beam 238Pu/Be neutron irradiator has been previously developed for exclusive use in in vivo neutron activation analysis in humans. The initial calibrations of the facility provided only a fixed value for the thermal neutron flux. Adjustment of this flux value for decay of the neutron source was later introduced and was based on the physical half-life of 238Pu. The current findings would suggest, however, that a more appropriate value for the effective half-life for the total body irradiator is 141.7+or-2.5 y. In addition, variations in the induced counts for a Mn standard on a yearly basis indicate that seasonal differences of approximately 0.5% can be present between the winter and summer months.


PACS

87.80.-y Biophysical techniques (research methods)

87.53.-j Effects of ionizing radiation on biological systems

82.80.Jp Activation analysis and other radiochemical methods

02.60.Ed Interpolation; curve fitting

Subjects

Computational physics

Instrumentation and measurement

Medical physics

Biological physics

Chemical physics and physical chemistry

Dates

Issue 8 (August 1990)



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