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[1]
Nuclide	Half-life	Decay mode	branching fraction	Source	Notes
³ ₁H	12.312 ± 0.025 y	β⁻	1.0	LNHB
¹⁰ ₄Be	( 1.51 ± 0.06 ) x 10⁶ y	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁴ ₆C	( 5.7 ± 0.03 ) x 10³ y	β⁻	1.0	LNHB
¹⁵ ₆C	2.449 ± 0.005 s	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁶ ₇N	7.13 ± 0.02 s	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁹ ₈O	26.88 ± 0.05 s	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
²² ₁₁Na	950.57 ± 0.23 d	EC	0.1011 ± 0.0002a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
²² ₁₁Na	950.57 ± 0.23 d	β⁺	0.8989 ± 0.0002a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
²⁴ ₁₁Na	0.62329 ± 0.00006 d	β⁻	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
²⁷ ₁₂Mg	9.458 ± 0.012 m	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
²⁶ ₁₃Al	( 7.17 ± 0.24 ) x 10⁵ y	EC	0.1825 ± 0.0023b	LNHB	[2]
²⁶ ₁₃Al	( 7.17 ± 0.24 ) x 10⁵ y	β⁺	0.8175 ± 0.0023b	LNHB	[2]
³⁵ ₁₆S	87.32 ± 0.16 d	β⁻	1.0	LNHB
³⁶ ₁₇Cl	( 0.01 ± 0.03 ) x 10⁵ y	EC	0.019 ± 0.001	LNHB
³⁶ ₁₇Cl	( 0.01 ± 0.03 ) x 10⁵ y	β⁻	0.981 ± 0.001	LNHB
³⁹ ₁₈Ar	269 ± 3 y	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁴¹ ₁₈Ar	109.61 ± 0.04 m	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁴⁰ ₁₉K	( 4.563 ± 0.013 ) x 10¹¹ d	EC	0.1086 ± 0.0013a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
⁴⁰ ₁₉K	( 4.563 ± 0.013 ) x 10¹¹ d	β⁻	0.8914 ± 0.0013a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
⁴² ₁₉K	12.36 ± 0.012 h	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁴¹ ₂₀Ca	( 1.02 ± 0.07 ) x 10⁵ y	EC	1.0	ENSDF
⁴⁵ ₂₀Ca	162.61 ± 0.09 d	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁴⁷ ₂₁Sc	3.3492 ± 0.0006 d	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁴⁸ ₂₁Sc	43.67 ± 0.09 h	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁵¹ ₂₄Cr	27.7009 ± 0.002 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁴ ₂₅Mn	312.29 ± 0.26 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁶ ₂₅Mn	0.107449 ± 0.000019 d	β⁻	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁵ ₂₆Fe	( 1.0027 ± 0.0023 ) x 10³ d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁹ ₂₆Fe	44.494 ± 0.013 d	β⁻	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁷ ₂₇Co	271.8 ± 0.05 d	EC	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁸ ₂₇Co	70.86 ± 0.06 d	β⁺	0.15 ± 0.0020a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
⁵⁸ ₂₇Co	70.86 ± 0.06 d	EC	0.85 ± 0.0020a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
⁶⁰ ₂₇Co	( 1.92523 ± 0.00027 ) x 10³ d	β⁻	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁵⁹ ₂₈Ni	( 7.6 ± 0.5 ) x 10⁴ y	EC	1.0	ENSDF
⁶³ ₂₈Ni	98.7 ± 2.4 y	β⁻	1.0	LNHB
⁶⁵ ₂₈Ni	2.51719 ± 0.00026 h	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁶⁴ ₂₉Cu	0.52929 ± 0.00018 d	β⁺	0.179 ± 0.002a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
		β⁻	0.39 ± 0.003a
		EC	0.431 ± 0.005a
⁶⁶ ₂₉Cu	5.12 ± 0.014 m	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
⁶⁵ ₃₀Zn	243.86 ± 0.2 d	β⁺	0.0142 ± 0.0001a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
⁶⁵ ₃₀Zn	243.86 ± 0.2 d	EC	0.9858 ± 0.0001a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
^93m ₄₁Nb	( 5.73 ± 0.22 ) x 10³ d	IT	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
⁹³ ₄₂Mo	( 4.0 ± 0.8 ) x 10³ y	EC	1.0	ENSDF
^99m ₄₃Tc	0.250281 ± 0.000022 d	β⁻	0.000037 ± 0.000006a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
^99m ₄₃Tc	0.250281 ± 0.000022 d	IT	0.999963 ± 0.000006a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
^110m ₄₇Ag	249.85 ± 0.1 d	IT	0.0136 ± 0.0008a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
^110m ₄₇Ag	249.85 ± 0.1 d	β⁻	0.9864 ± 0.0008a	IAEA-CRP-XG	[1]
^115m ₄₉In	4.486 ± 0.004 h	β⁻	0.05 ± 0.008	ENSDF
^115m ₄₉In	4.486 ± 0.004 h	IT	0.95 ± 0.008	ENSDF
¹²⁶ ₅₃I	12.93 ± 0.05 d	β⁻	0.473 ± 0.006	ENSDF
¹²⁶ ₅₃I	12.93 ± 0.05 d	EC	0.527 ± 0.006	ENSDF
¹⁷⁵ ₇₂Hf	70 ± 2 d	EC	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁸¹ ₇₂Hf	42.39 ± 0.06 d	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁸² ₇₃Ta	114.43 ± 0.04 d	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁸¹ ₇₄W	121.2 ± 0.2 d	EC	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁸⁵ ₇₄W	75.1 ± 0.3 d	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁸⁷ ₇₄W	23.72 ± 0.06 h	β⁻	1.0	ENSDF
¹⁹⁸ ₇₉Au	2.695 ± 0.0007 d	β⁻	1.0	IAEA-CRP-XG
¹⁹⁷ ₈₀Hg	64.14 ± 0.05 h	EC	1.0	ENSDF
²⁰³ ₈₀Hg	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 Archived 2021-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, 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, ISBN 92-0-113606-4.
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..

References

"Half-lives and decay branching fractions for activation products". www-nds.iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 11 November 2016.

External links

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[IAEA-D1-1] "Half-lives and decay branching fractions for activation products". www-nds.iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 11 November 2016.