title: Determination of (241)Pu by the method of disturbed radioactive equilibrium using 2πα-counting and precision gamma-spectrometry.
abstract: A simple technique is proposed for the determination of the content of (241)Pu, which is based on disturbance of radioactive equilibrium in the genetically related (237)U←(241)Pu→(241)Am decay chain of radionuclides, with the subsequent use of 2πα-counting and precision gamma-spectroscopy for monitoring the process of restoration of that equilibrium. It has been shown that the data on dynamics of accumulation of the daughter (241)Am, which were obtained from the results of measurements of α- and γ-spectra of the samples, correspond to the estimates calculated for the chain of two genetically related radionuclides, the differences in the estimates of (241)Pu radioactivity not exceeding 2%. Combining the different methods of registration (2πα-counting, semiconductor alpha- and gamma-spectrometry) enables the proposed method to be efficiently applied both for calibration of (241)Pu-sources (from several hundreds of kBq and higher) and for radioisotopic analysis of plutonium mixtures. In doing so, there is a deep purification of (241)Pu from its daughter decay products required due to unavailability of commercial detectors that could make it possible, based only on analysis of alpha-spectra, to conduct quantitative analysis of the content of (238)Pu and (241)Am.
authors: V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2nd Murinsky Pr., St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia. Electronic address: iea-1960@yandex.ru.
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Alekseev
authors: V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, 28, 2nd Murinsky Pr., St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Kuzmina
keywords: 2πα-counting; Decay chains of genetically bound radionuclides; Precision gamma-spectrometry; Standardization of (241)Pu samples