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k0-Neutron Activation Analysis at CDTN, Brazil: 27 years of history, development and main achievements

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Abstract

Neutron Activation Analysis is an analytical technique to assay the chemical elemental composition in samples of various matrices. It has been applied by the Laboratory for Neutron Activation Analysis, located at Nuclear Technology Development Centre/Brazilian Commission for Nuclear Energy, CDTN/CNEN, since the starting up of the TRIGA Mark I IPR-R1 reactor in 1960. Among the methods of this technique, the k0-method, which was established at CDTN in 1995 and re-established and improved in 2003 as k0-standardized method, is the most efficient multielemental concentration determination. The results of participation in proficiency testings indicated which unsatisfactory data produced by k0-method should be improved over the years. This paper is about the history of the development of k0-method at the laboratory and the main achievements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank to CAPES, FAPEMIG, CNPq, and CDTN/CNEN by financial, material and technical-scientific support for the development of this method along the years. We are also thankful to the International Atomic Energy Agency for supporting the Experts’ Missions of Dr. Radojko Jaćimović and acquirement of first version of software HyperLab and Kayzero/Solcoi, and also to Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) through programme P1-0143 and the Metrology Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (MIRS) under contract No. C3212-10-000071 (6401-5/2009/27) for activities and obligations performed as a Designate Institute. The authors also thank to Fausto Maretti Júnior (retired), Dante Zamgirolami (retired), Luiz Claudio Andrade and Daniel Almeida Magalhães Campolina, Supervisors of the TRIGA Mark I IPR-R1 reactor, and Paulo Fernando Oliveira (retired) and Luiz Otávio Ivanenko Sette Câmara, Marlucio Antonio da Silva, José Augusto Ribeiro da Silva, Reactor Operators, for providing assistance and operating the reactor during the analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division for Analysis and Environment, Laboratory for Neutron Activation Analysis, Nuclear Technology Development Centre/Brazilian Commission for Nuclear Energy, CDTN/CNEN, Av. Pres. Antônio Carlos nº 6627, Campus UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 31270-901, Brazil

    Maria Angela de Barros Correia Menezes

  2. Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, PUC-MG, Av. Dom José Gaspar, 500, Coração Eucarístico, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Claudia de Vilhena Schayer Sabino

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Radojko Jaćimović

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  1. Maria Angela de Barros Correia Menezes
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  2. Claudia de Vilhena Schayer Sabino
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  3. Radojko Jaćimović
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Correspondence to Maria Angela de Barros Correia Menezes.

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Menezes, M.A.d.B.C., Sabino, C.d.V.S. & Jaćimović, R. k0-Neutron Activation Analysis at CDTN, Brazil: 27 years of history, development and main achievements. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 3457–3468 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08804-9

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