Conclusion
The method of calculation described is useful for the types of work of which examples are given. It is also useful in making rapid comparison of the activities that might be expected from several different elements. For instance, suppose it is desired to know which of the three elements, cobalt, nickel, or vanadium is, under similar conditions, activated to the greatest extent by thermal neutrons. If reference is made to a cross-section table only, the values may be misleading unless properly interpreted by a suitable comparison of half-lives and abundances. In this table all the variables have been combined and the desired information can be obtained directly from the values ofA 3λ, the activity produced per gram per second of irradiation, under the stated conditions. Hence, it is easily seen that, under similar circumstances of irradiation, vanadium is most easily activated even though the cross section of one of the cobalt isotopes is nearly five times that of vanadium and the cross section of one of the nickel isotopes is three times that of vanadium.
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This paper originally appeared inNucleonics,6, 54–63 (May, 1950), asTable for Simplifying Calculations of Activities Produced by Thermal Neutrons, byF. E. Senftle andW. Z. Leavitt. Because of its usefulness for certain applications, it has been revised and recompiled to include new nuclear data that were available up to Nov. 1, 1954. Publication authorized by the Director, U.S. Geological Survey.
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Senftle, F.E., Champion, W.R. Tables for simplifying calculations of activities produced by thermal neutrons. Nuovo Cim 12 (Suppl 3), 550–571 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02802483
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02802483