Activation product

An activation product is a material that has been made radioactive by the process of neutron activation.

Fission products and actinides produced by neutron absorption of nuclear fuel itself are normally referred to by those specific names, and activation product reserved for products of neutron capture by other materials, such as structural components of the nuclear reactor or nuclear bomb, the reactor coolant, control rods or other neutron poisons, or materials in the environment. All of these, however, need to be handled as radioactive waste. Some nuclides originate in more than one way, as activation products or fission products.

Activation products in a reactor's primary coolant loop are a main reason reactors use a chain of two or even three coolant loops linked by heat exchangers.

Fusion reactors will not produce radioactive waste from the fusion product nuclei themselves, which are normally just helium-4, but generate high neutron fluxes, so activation products are a particular concern.

Activation product radionuclides include:

Half-lives and decay branching fractions for activation products

Nuclide	Half-life	Decay mode	branching fraction	Source	Notes
Template:Nuclide	12.312 ± 0.025 y	β−	1.0	LNHB
Template:Nuclide	( 1.51 ± 0.06 ) x 106 y	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	( 5.7 ± 0.03 ) x 103 y	β−	1.0	LNHB
Template:Nuclide	2.449 ± 0.005 s	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	7.13 ± 0.02 s	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	26.88 ± 0.05 s	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	950.57 ± 0.23 d	EC	0.1011 ± 0.0002a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		β+	0.8989 ± 0.0002a
Template:Nuclide	0.62329 ± 0.00006 d	β−	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	9.458 ± 0.012 m	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	( 7.17 ± 0.24 ) x 105 y	EC	0.1825 ± 0.0023b	LNHB	[2]
		β+	0.8175 ± 0.0023b
Template:Nuclide	87.32 ± 0.16 d	β−	1.0	LNHB
Template:Nuclide	( 0.01 ± 0.03 ) x 105 y	EC	0.019 ± 0.001	LNHB
		β−	0.981 ± 0.001
Template:Nuclide	269 ± 3 y	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	109.61 ± 0.04 m	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	( 4.563 ± 0.013 ) x 1011 d	EC	0.1086 ± 0.0013a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		β−	0.8914 ± 0.0013a
Template:Nuclide	12.36 ± 0.012 h	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	( 1.02 ± 0.07 ) x 105 y	EC	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	162.61 ± 0.09 d	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	3.3492 ± 0.0006 d	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	43.67 ± 0.09 h	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	27.7009 ± 0.002 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	312.29 ± 0.26 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	0.107449 ± 0.000019 d	β−	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	( 1.0027 ± 0.0023 ) x 103 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	44.494 ± 0.013 d	β−	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	271.8 ± 0.05 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	70.86 ± 0.06 d	β+	0.15 ± 0.0020a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		EC	0.85 ± 0.0020a
Template:Nuclide	( 1.92523 ± 0.00027 ) x 103 d	β−	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	( 7.6 ± 0.5 ) x 104 y	EC	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	98.7 ± 2.4 y	β−	1.0	LNHB
Template:Nuclide	2.51719 ± 0.00026 h	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	0.52929 ± 0.00018 d	β+	0.179 ± 0.002a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		β−	0.39 ± 0.003a
		EC	0.431 ± 0.005a
Template:Nuclide	5.12 ± 0.014 m	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	243.86 ± 0.2 d	β+	0.0142 ± 0.0001a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		EC	0.9858 ± 0.0001a
Template:Nuclide	( 5.73 ± 0.22 ) x 103 d	IT	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	( 4.0 ± 0.8 ) x 103 y	EC	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	0.250281 ± 0.000022 d	β−	0.000037 ± 0.000006a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		IT	0.999963 ± 0.000006a
Template:Nuclide	249.85 ± 0.1 d	IT	0.0136 ± 0.0008a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		β−	0.9864 ± 0.0008a
Template:Nuclide	4.486 ± 0.004 h	β−	0.05 ± 0.008	ENSDF
		IT	0.95 ± 0.008
Template:Nuclide	12.93 ± 0.05 d	β−	0.473 ± 0.006	ENSDF
		EC	0.527 ± 0.006
Template:Nuclide	70 ± 2 d	EC	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	42.39 ± 0.06 d	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	114.43 ± 0.04 d	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	121.2 ± 0.2 d	EC	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	75.1 ± 0.3 d	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	23.72 ± 0.06 h	β−	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	2.695 ± 0.0007 d	β−	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
Template:Nuclide	64.14 ± 0.05 h	EC	1.0	ENSDF
Template:Nuclide	46.594 ± 0.012 d	β−	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG

LNHB	Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel, Recommended Data, http://www.nucleide.org/DDEP_WG/DDEPdata.htm Template:Webarchive, 5 June 2008.
IAEA-CRP-XG	M.-M. Bé, V.P. Chechev, R. Dersch, O.A.M. Helene, R.G. Helmer, M. Herman, S. Hlav ác, A. Marcinkowski, G.L. Molnár, A.L. Nichols, E. Schönfeld, V.R. Vanin, M.J. Woods, IAEA CRP "Update of X Ray and Gamma Ray Decay Data Standards for Detector Calibration and Other Applications", IAEA Scientific and Technical Information report STI/PUB/1287, May 2007, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, Template:ISBN.
ENSDF	Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File, http://www-nds.iaea.org/ensdf/, 5 June 2008.

[1] Branching fractions from LNHB database.

[2] Branching fractions renormalised to sum to 1.0..

External links

• Handbook on Nuclear Activation Cross-Sections, IAEA, 1974
• Nuclear Structure and Decay Databases (nndc.bnl.gov)
• New and revised half-life measurements results made by the Radioactivity Group of NIST
• HANDBOOK OF NUCLEAR DATA FOR SAFEGUARDS: DATABASE EXTENSIONS, AUGUST 2008

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