Activation product


Activation products are materials made radioactive by 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:
NuclideHalf-lifeDecay modebranching fractionSourceNotes
12.312 ± 0.025 yβ−1.0LNHB-
x 106 yβ−1.0ENSDF-
x 103 yβ−1.0LNHB-
2.449 ± 0.005 sβ−1.0ENSDF-
7.13 ± 0.02 sβ−1.0ENSDF-
26.88 ± 0.05 sβ−1.0ENSDF-
950.57 ± 0.23 dEC0.1011 ± 0.0002aIAEA-CRP-XG
950.57 ± 0.23 dβ+0.8989 ± 0.0002aIAEA-CRP-XG
0.62329 ± 0.00006 dβ−1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
9.458 ± 0.012 mβ−1.0ENSDF-
x 105 yEC0.1825 ± 0.0023bLNHB
x 105 yβ+0.8175 ± 0.0023bLNHB
87.32 ± 0.16 dβ−1.0LNHB-
x 105 yEC0.019 ± 0.001LNHB-
x 105 yβ−0.981 ± 0.001LNHB-
269 ± 3 yβ−1.0ENSDF-
109.61 ± 0.04 mβ−1.0ENSDF-
x 1011 dEC0.1086 ± 0.0013aIAEA-CRP-XG
x 1011 dβ−0.8914 ± 0.0013aIAEA-CRP-XG
12.36 ± 0.012 hβ−1.0ENSDF-
x 105 yEC1.0ENSDF-
162.61 ± 0.09 dβ−1.0ENSDF-
3.3492 ± 0.0006 dβ−1.0ENSDF-
43.67 ± 0.09 hβ−1.0ENSDF-
27.7009 ± 0.002 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
312.29 ± 0.26 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
0.107449 ± 0.000019 dβ−1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
x 103 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
44.494 ± 0.013 dβ−1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
271.8 ± 0.05 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
70.86 ± 0.06 dβ+0.15 ± 0.0020aIAEA-CRP-XG
70.86 ± 0.06 dEC0.85 ± 0.0020aIAEA-CRP-XG
x 103 dβ−1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
x 104 yEC1.0ENSDF-
98.7 ± 2.4 yβ−1.0LNHB-
2.51719 ± 0.00026 hβ−1.0ENSDF-
0.52929 ± 0.00018 dβ+0.179 ± 0.002aIAEA-CRP-XG
0.52929 ± 0.00018 dβ−0.39 ± 0.003aIAEA-CRP-XG
0.52929 ± 0.00018 dEC0.431 ± 0.005aIAEA-CRP-XG
5.12 ± 0.014 mβ−1.0ENSDF-
243.86 ± 0.2 dβ+0.0142 ± 0.0001aIAEA-CRP-XG
243.86 ± 0.2 dEC0.9858 ± 0.0001aIAEA-CRP-XG
x 103 dIT1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
x 103 yEC1.0ENSDF-
0.250281 ± 0.000022 dβ−0.000037 ± 0.000006aIAEA-CRP-XG
0.250281 ± 0.000022 dIT0.999963 ± 0.000006aIAEA-CRP-XG
249.85 ± 0.1 dIT0.0136 ± 0.0008aIAEA-CRP-XG
249.85 ± 0.1 dβ−0.9864 ± 0.0008aIAEA-CRP-XG
4.486 ± 0.004 hβ−0.05 ± 0.008ENSDF-
4.486 ± 0.004 hIT0.95 ± 0.008ENSDF-
12.93 ± 0.05 dβ−0.473 ± 0.006ENSDF-
12.93 ± 0.05 dEC0.527 ± 0.006ENSDF-
70 ± 2 dEC1.0ENSDF-
42.39 ± 0.06 dβ−1.0ENSDF-
114.43 ± 0.04 dβ−1.0ENSDF-
121.2 ± 0.2 dEC1.0ENSDF-
75.1 ± 0.3 dβ−1.0ENSDF-
23.72 ± 0.06 hβ−1.0ENSDF-
2.695 ± 0.0007 dβ−1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-
64.14 ± 0.05 hEC1.0ENSDF-
46.594 ± 0.012 dβ−1.0IAEA-CRP-XG-

LNHBLaboratoire National Henri Becquerel, Recommended Data, http://www.nucleide.org/DDEP_WG/DDEPdata.htm, 5 June 2008.
IAEA-CRP-XGM.-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,.
ENSDFEvaluated Nuclear Structure Data File, http://www-nds.iaea.org/ensdf/, 5 June 2008.

Branching fractions from LNHB database.
Branching fractions renormalised to sum to 1.0..