title: Radioisotopes produced by neutron irradiation of food.
abstract: The use of neutrons for cargo interrogation has the potential to drastically improve threat detection. Previous research has focussed on the production of (24)Na, based on the isotopes produced in pharmaceuticals and medical devices. For both the total activity and the ingestion dose we show that a variety of isotopes contribute and that (24)Na is only dominant under certain conditions. The composition of the foods has a strong influence on the resulting activity and ingestion dose suggesting that the pharmaceuticals and medical devices considered initially are not a viable analogue for foodstuffs. There is an energy dependence to the isotopes produced due to the cross-sections of different reactions varying with neutron energy. We show that this results in different isotopes dominating the ingestion dose at different energies, which has not been considered in the previous literature.
authors.affiliation: West Building (W3/01), The University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England HD1 3DH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: simon.albright@hud.ac.uk.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Albright
authors.affiliation: West Building (W3/01), The University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England HD1 3DH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: r.seviour@hud.ac.uk.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seviour
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003415:Crime / Q000517:prevention & control; D005214:Fast Neutrons / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005502:Food / Q000528:radiation effects; D005504:Food Analysis; D005514:Food Irradiation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012979:Sodium Radioisotopes / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D023481:Terrorism / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D012979:Sodium Radioisotopes
keywords: Cargo interrogation; Food activation; Induced activity; Ingestion dose; Neutron activation