This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Activation product is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
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 why 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:
| Nuclide | See also | Halflife | Parent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tritium | 12.3 y | Lithium-6,7 Boron-10 |
|
| Beryllium-10 | 1.53 my | Boron-10 | |
| Carbon-14 | 5600 y | Nitrogen-14 Carbon-13 |
|
| Sodium-24 | Fast breeder | 15 h | Sodium-23 |
| Chlorine-36 | 301 ky | Chlorine-35 | |
| Argon-39 | 269 y | Argon-38 | |
| Iron-55 | 2.73 y | Iron-54 | |
| Nickel-59 | 76 ky | Nickel-58 | |
| Cobalt-60 | 5.27 y | Cobalt-59 | |
| Nickel-63 | 100 y | Nickel-62 | |
| Molybdenum-93 | 4 ky | Molybdenum-92 | |
| Niobium-93m | 16 y | ||
| Niobium-94 | 20.3 ky | Niobium-93 | |
| Technetium-99 | LLFP | 211 ky | Molybdenum-98 |
| Silver-108m | 418 y | Silver-107 | |
| Cadmium-113m | 13 y | Cadmium-112 | |
| Tin-121m | [1] | 56 y | Tin-120 |
| Lead-205 | Q=51KeV | 15.3 my | Lead-204 |
| Polonium-210 | LBE | 138 d | Bismuth-209 |
External links
 |
This nuclear physics or atomic physics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 January 2008, at 03:57.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Activation product".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.