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j \ combinations of the above INIS Clearinghouse other IAEA P. 0. Box 100 ^ilf A-1400, Vienna, Austria Ort FlfeST BALKAN fc :.4 ' i .'• ON ACTIVATI0N ANALYSIS 1985

INIS-mf--11126

PROCEEDINGS, VARNA, BULGARIA, MAY 6-8, 1985

INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR RESEARCH AND NUCLEAR ENERGY BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FIRST BALKAN CONFERENCE ON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS 1985 The Organizing Committee gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the following institutions: Agricultural Academy State Committee for Science and Technical Progress Committee for Environmental Protection Union of the Scientific Workers in Bulgaria Union of Chemistry and Chemical Industry

PUBLISHED BY SOPIA PRESS Designer K. Krastev PROCEEDINGS

VARNA, BULGARIA, MAY 6-8,1985 Chairmen of the Organizing Committee - Prof. Zh. Zhelev Secretary - in - charge - L.Kinova FOREWORD

, Almost fifty years elapsed from the first publication in the field of activation analysis.During this period activation analysis won a wide recog- nition. Its principal merits: the possibility of simultaneous determination of several elements,the high sensitivity.precision and accuracy of measure- ment, the applicability to different materials,combined with the developement of high resolution semiconductive detectors and multichannel analysers brought it to the state of a preferable analytical method in many' areas of science and technology. In the last few years NAA found a wide application in the Balkan coun- tries with a significant contribution to the technical progress. The common interests in this area are a good premise for collaboration in the. Region. The purpose of the First Balkan Conference on Activation Analysis is to give an opportunity to scientists from this area to exchange information on the state of activation analysis in their countries as well as to create more close contacts.The united efforts of the scientists from Balkan coun- tries will foster the further developement of the activation analysis and, therefore, will enhance the contribution of the atomic energy to peace,health and prosperity in the Region. The Proceeding includes all papers submitted to the Organizing Committee until 1985, March, 30. CONTENTS

REVIEW PAPERS

Neutron Activation Analysis in Bulgaria D. Apostolov Neutron Activation Analysis in Romania . S.Apostolescu Activation Analysis in Greece A. P. Grimanis

METHODS IN ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Epithermal neutron flux distribution and its impact on ( n, jc ) activation analysis result „ 19 S. Jovanovic, F. Da Corte, A. Simonits, L. Moena, P. Vukotic, R. Zejnilovic, J. Hoste The neutron activation analysis in the study of Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers composition - relation to other methods of investigation 25 J. G. Petrov, I. Kuleff Neutron activation analysis of semiconductor silicon 29 S. Apoetoleacu, A. Pantelica, M. Salagean Determination of some trace elements in biological materials using the short lived isotopes 32 E. Taskaev Se in biological SRM'BI a comparison of results obtained by different neutron activation methods 35

M. Dermelj(A. Gosar, M. Frank o, A. R. Byrne, L. K o s t a, P. Stegnar 14 MeV proton activation for protein analysis in cereals 37 B. Constantineacu, E. Ivanov, D. Plostinaru, A. Popa-Nemoiu, G. Pascovioi Determination of iodine-129 content of the primary coolant of nuclear power reactor 40 I. Kuleff, S. Zotschev, G. Stefanov Neutron activation analysis of some high purity substances 44 M. Salagean, A. Pantelica, C. Dan, E. Apoatol 14 MeV neutron activation analysis for oxygen determination in silicon single-crystals 47 D. TimuB, V. Galatanu, D. Catana, N. Blega, 0. Popescu,A. Bradeanu Instrumental photoactivation analysis of some elements in steel 50 V. Galatanu, D. Timus, D. Catana Application of the INAA to the initial comparison of proectile lead ... 52 D. Dimitrov Determination of Al, Cl, S and V by nondestructive activation analysis 55

B. SmodisfL. Kosta, A. R. Byrne, M. Dermelj Determination of platinum concentration in gold matrix by neutron activation 57 V. Cojocaru, S. Spiridon Impurity determination in BigO, and PbClg by neutron activation analysis and atomic absorption spectrometry 60 S. Aleksandrov, I. K u 1 e f f, R. Dj i n g o v a, S. Arpadjan, E. Taskaev Determination of mercury content in milk powder 63 M. Iovtchev.T. Grigorov, D. Apostolov Simple and fast determination of Rb and Cs in mineralized waters 65 S. Taskaev Gamma - spectrometric system based on personal computer "PRAVETS - 83" 66 K. J a n a k i e v, L. T o m o v, T. Grigorov, M. Vutchkov Computational description of fast neutron activation data 69 M. Avrigeanu, M. Ivascu, V. Avrigeanu Absolute nondestructive quantitative determination of uranium in special nuclear materials 71 T. Dragnev, B. Damyanov, G. Grozev, J. Karamanova Program for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of Ji, - ray spectra 74 V. T e p e 1 e a, E. P u r i c e, R. D a n, G. C a 1 c e v, M. D 0 m n i s a n, V. G a 1 i s, G. Teodosiu, C. Debert, N. Mocanu, M. Nastase

MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY

Investigation of the behaviour of some elements in heart of thymectomised rats ».. 79 L. K i n o v a The feasibility study of in-vivo analysis of bone calcium by activation of hand with 5 Cl 238Pu - Be 81 H. Sevimli Distribution of some elements in human colon mucosa B3 R. J. Draskovic, U. Bo zanic Analysis of human renal calculi by INAA 85 L. Kinova, Iv. Penev, M. de Bruin Determination of sodium in Pharmaceuticals by neutron activation analysis 87 G. D. K a n i a s, N. H. C h o u 1 i s Investigation of distribution of zink, iron and antimony in healthy and pathologically altered liver tissues 90 K. Kostic, S. Stankovic, R. J. Draskovic The influence of some additives to the highly carbohydrate diet on the distribution of Al, Ca, Cl, Mg, Mn and Na in teeth enamel and bones of experimental animals 92 P. Bakyrdachiev, I. Kuleff, E. Djulgerova, M. Iovtschev On the content of sodium,potassium, magnesium,calcium and chlorine in organs of WISTAR rats 93 M»Iovtchev, L. Kinova, T. Grigorov, D. Apostolov, Z. Kemileva

ENVIRONMENT

Instrumental neutron activation analysis in environmental research ( invited lecture ) 99 M.de Bruin RNAA determination of As, Cd and Zn in biological materials 108 E. T a s k a e v, Iv. Fenev, L. Kinova Defining of concentration factors in the biota of the river Sava by the method of nondestructive neutron activation analysis 110 S. L u 1 i c Analysis of some mineral salts by neutron activation method 113 A. Pantelica, M. Salagaan, S. Spiridon, Gh. Spiridon Determination of trace element concentration factors in some marine organisms by neutron activation analysis 115 A. Vertacnik, S. Lulic The concentration of active and inactive strontium in some Danube river samples . ...r • 118 K. Kosutic, S. Lulic Mineral composition of the plant npecies of the Hypericum family 121 L. Marichkova, 0. Kjostarova Trace elements in Turkish tea leaves determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis 124 R. Demiralp Investigations of some regional river systems by INAA and X - ray fluorescence 125 R. J. Draskovic,A.Kukoc, M. Pantelic Neutron activation investigation on the accumulation of some elements in Taraxacum officinale, resulting from environmental pollution 128 I. Kuleff, R. Djingova Determination of some elements in bottom sediments from Varna bay, Bulgaria and Saronikos gulf, Greece 129 D. Apostolov, M, Iovtchev,L. Kinova, F. Nikolov, Iv. Penev.E. Taskaev, T. Grigorov, A. Stojanov, A. P. Grimanis, G. K a n i a a, C. Papadopoulou, M. Vassilaki-Grimani, D. Zafiropoulos Studies of trace elements in marine organisms from Kastela bay in the central Adriatic 132 M. Tuaek-Znidaric, M. Skreblin, J. Pavicic, P. Stegnar, T. Zvonaric Macro - and microelement determination in some species of the family Fumaria I. distributed in Bulgaria 134 L. Harichkova, 0. Kjostarova Application of nuclear analytical techniques to Investigate trace elements content in foodstuffs .. 137 A. G h a r i b

GEOLOGY

Some remarks on NAA in geochemical research ( invited lecture ) , 141 UUGeisler Neutron activation analysis of some zircon samples from the Apuseni montains ( Romania ) 149 M. Salagean, A. Pantelica, V. Znamirovschi, A. Motiu Determination of some REE elements, scandium and cobalt in Bulgarian geostandard GRANITE G-B 152 E. Taskaev, D. Apostolov, H. Schelhorn Rapid uranium analysis by deayed neutron counting of neutron activated samples 154 M. N. Papadopoulos REE geochemistry of the Stara Planina ophiolite association 15? L. D a 1 e v a, I. Haidoutov Potassium determinations in clayey minerals by neutron activation analysis * 160 L. DineBCU, C. Plameda Simultaneous neutron activation determination, of aluminium, magnesium and silicon in rocks 162 I v. P e n e v, I. Kuleff, R. Djingova Multielement neutron activation analysis of silicate rocks using successive short and long sample irradiations «• 1&5 P. Vukotic, S. Jovanovic Determination of trace elements in fly coal ash ( ENO, EOP, ECH refference materials ) 171 M. Salagean, A. Pantelica Uranium content measurements on II - phosphate ores 174 M. Salagean, A. Pantelica, S. Spiridon Determination of uranium and thorium content in rocks toy epithermal neutron activation analysis 175 1. Dinescu, C. Flamada Activation analysis of indium used as tracer in hydrogeology 177 S. P. Stanescu, 0. M. Parcasiu, E. Gaapar, S. Spiridon, V. 11. Nazarov, M. V. Frontasieva Data on the REE, Th and Hf - content in volcanic rocks from central Cuba 180 I. Ioilanov, D. Tchounev The detenu-'nation of the silver content in some ancient coins by using an Am - Be neutron source 183 G. C o a a a, T. P i a t, V. Znamirorschi, L. Daraban, V. Morariu, D. Boros, D. Alicu Monostandard activation analysis of prehistoric copper objects 186

vr • n •* c, c a r u, II. Ivascu, C. Beslitt, D. Di^aerian, D. Fopoviei Archaeometrio investigation of medieval Bulgarian glasses and sgraffito ceramics by neutron activation analysis 189 R. Djingova, I. Kuleff Determination of trace elements in soil 190 M. Salagean, A. Pantelica Investigation of the connection between surface water and underground water from mine CACOVA - IERII, using activable tracers 192 L, Dinescu, V. Domocos, St. Cracium Fast neutron activation analysis of short-lived nuclides in some geological samples 194 S. M. Al-Jobori, et al.

AUTHOR INDSZ 195 REVIEW PAPE RS NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS IN BULGARIA

D.Apostolov Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Sofia

The first attempt for instrumental neutron activation analysis was made by analysis of indium in intermetall alloyB by means of Po-Be source in the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy in Sofia.The develop- ment on INAA as a routine method starts with bringing into use in I960 of the experimental nuclear reactor in Sofia.With the introduction of semi-con- duotive detectors and high quality multichannel analysers the method finds its wide applications in different parts of science and industry.

SYSTEMS AND METHODS OP IRRADIATION

At the present the main source of neutrons is the experimental reactor 2 MW - IRT-2000.For the purposes of INAA the vertical channels are used. 12 2 The neutron flux vary from 1 to 6x10 n/cm sf with Cd ratio for gold of about 4,4.In one of the channels the neutron flux is additionally thermalised with grafite (thermal columne ),In other vertical channel a pneumatic double- tube rabbit system is installed.One of the irradiation positions is equiped with 1mm Cd shield constantly.With the pressure of the working gas ( air ) of 2 bar the transport time in one direction is 2,5 sec. In this way for INAA are available isotopes with the half-life of few seconds and more,when the irradiation iB carried out in pile or epithermal neutron flux, and few hours and more,when the irradiation is carried out in thermal column.Because of lack of special system for uniform irradiation an accuracy of 3% could be reached by use of iron monitors for long irradiatons and copper monitors for use in the rabbit system. At the moment in Bulgaria are working also two neutron generators but the application of 14 MeV neutrons for INAA is still quite limited. Radiochemical methods ( RNAA ) are used at the present only for investi- gation purposes.

APPLICATIONS

Geology and pedology: The application of INAA in this area is most developed.Investigated are the composition of the fields,of strongly minera- lised underground waters and the possibility to extract from them some use- ful products.Some investigations are carried out on rocks and sediments for the purposes of geology.The study of soils is conducted for the improvement of agriculture. Medicine and biology; Model experiments are performed on laboratory animals for the establishment of a connection between the content of essential macro- and microelements in different organs and the development of some processes in disease.Studied is also on model experiment the effect of plati- num preparations on the treatment of cancer.Investigated is the elemental content of human tissuestplants and other. Environment and pollution: Conducted are tracer experiments for the study of the effect of point pollution emmiters ( factory chimney for instance). Examined are the possibilities to use some plants and animals as a monitors of air pollution.Studied is the influence of different pollutants on the distribution of toxic elements in human organs,sea water organisms and others. Archeology;An extensive investigation is carried out of ancient glasses and ceramics for archaeometry purposes.An attempt is made for analogous investigation of ancient flint and obsidian objects. Technology: By means of INAA is analysed the wearing of some machine parts,controlled are some processes in metallurgy as well as the final technological products.Investigated are the possibilities for regeneration of some valuable apended catalysts from chemical industry. Meteorology and hydrology: Experiments are conducted with activable tracers for the study of local atmospheric phenomena and the movement of the underground waters. Criminology; Developed are methods based on INAA for analysis of car paints and traces of shooting for the investigating purposes.

Qualitatively NAA in Bulgaria maintaims a good level.The interlabora- tory intercomparison runs,organised by IAEA and other institutions offer a perfect opportunity for each group to check the quality of their results. Quantitatively the further development of NAA and its applications is limited by the possibilities of the reactor.In the near future a reconstruc- tion and modernisation of the reactor is being planned,which will extend the possibilities for the analysis.Building of accelerator and more power- ful neutron generator which is due in the near future in Bulgaria will also contribute to the use of neutron activation analysis. HBUTRON AOTIVATION ANALISBS IN ROMANIA SSelian Apostolesou Institute for Physios and Nuolear Engineering Bucharest IIG-6, Romania The history of activation analyses in Romania, starts way in 1957 whan a 2000 Iff 7VR-S Nuoltiar Reactor, and in 1958 when a U-200 Cyclotron have bean pat into function. The Institute for Atonic Physics has been developing its researoh activity around these two basic nuclear facilities. Soon after that a 30 MeV Betatron entered into operation and during the following years several 14 HeV neutron generators have been built or installed in various sites over the country* A king size High Voltage tandem Van de'Graaff accele- rator Joined later the nuclear facilities at the beginning of seventies. At about the same tine, the State Oommettee for nuclear Energy has orga- nized nationwide Courses for Radioisotope Applications, training specialists in various fields as geology, biology, medloine, engineering, agriculture and so on, in the peaceful uses of nuolear energy* leaching at this courses were the research workers and the university staff in this field. In this way the courses have become a kind of national forum debating the appropriate ways for a wide application of nuclear methods in technology, agrioulture and the other related fields of science and eoonomy* Soon has been found out that the most effective lmpaot of the nuolear methods in the related fields, beside the ove- rall problem of nuolear energy consists in the nuolear analyses and X-ray flu- orescence methods* THKRH&L NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS (THAI or INAA) Historically the first thermal neutron activation analyses carried out at the romanian nuolear reactor, were in late fifties dealing with the analysis of the purity of silicon as semioonduoting material* Since then, traoe elements determinations la silioon has been a oonstant task for our researchers in va- rious groups* She whole romanian industry of semioonduoting devices, benefits greatly now of slstematio and routine purity analyses, as well as nuolear do- ping by irradiation of silioon llngots in the aotlve core of our reactor. In the early sixties, a pneumatio rabbit system has been set up into one of the horizontal channels of the reactor, enabling measurements on short lived isotopes* The transit time of a few seoonds has allowed determinations on iso- topes whose lifetimes range as short as tens of seconds* This rabbit system has been in operation along a period of more than twenty years and is still in servioe. being used by all the research groups dealing with thermal neutron aotivation analysis on short lived isotopes* ThiB rabbit system is also used for delayed neutrons measurements on the uranium content in ores* Taking into account the faot that lately, the demands for such analyses have greatly Increased beyond the oapaolty of the present pneumatio system, a new and Improved rabbit is under construction and is to be set up ontoanother horizontal channel of the reactor* This new air rabbit will have a six position revolving ohargeable magazine and an intricate system of awltohos, to direct the sample in various positions, aooording to the irradia- tion programme* The whole system is designed to be before long controlled by the computer* As one oan see in the proceedings of this conference, a great deal of re- search and routine work is being carried on at this moment by an important number of working teams* As an example of some activities in thermal neutron aotivation analyses, the main domains will be be outlined as followsi QBOLOGT AND MIKIKG Beveral groups in the Institute for PhysiOB and Nuolear Engineering, in the Institute for Radiation Equipment, in the Institute for Geology and Geo- physics and the Institute for Rare Metals have been and are doing r«searoh and routine work for the determination of useful minerals in ores, like Iron, mo- libdenum, ziroonium, platinlo metals, uranium and thorium and all other metals as well BB nonmetallferous minerals like kaolins and refractory days* In the followings, a few works of this kind are mentioned! - Determination of gold and platlnio elements in Apuseni Carpathians ores. - Analysis of some mineral salts by INAA. - Uranium oontents taeaaurements on U-phosphate ores. - Neutron aotivation analysis of some zlroon samples from the Apuseni Carpathians. - Determination of alumina and silica oontents in kaolins and refractory olays by a oomblned method of TNAA and PNAA. - Hare-earths determinations in geological samples. PROCESSING OF MATERIALS The ras«arohsra of the Institute for Physios and Nuclear Engineering have oarried out important work in co-operation with the soiantists and technolo- gists of the industry in the study and production of high purity and/or special materials. Units like the Enterprise for Eleotronio Components and Semiconduc- tors, the Institute for Besearoh in Slaotronio Components, the Institute for Hetalurgioal Hesaaroh, and many others, osdar routine analyses, or co-operate in research programmes for high purity studios, in solving aoute technological problems* Here are some examples of works performed in these oo-operationst - Neutron aotivation analysis of semiconductor silicon. - Neutron aotivatio n analysis of high purity OaFo, GeO?, BioOp* and - P.p.aCN%)2lIoOi|.. leve4l %(oobal> t content in special steels. - Glass powder purity studios by INAA. - INAA on high purity quartz* - INAA on high purity graphite. ENVIRONMENT AND BIOLOGI Studies have been oarried out in co-operation with institutes for healths, for biology and for food processing* Examples of works in this fields are as follows! - Analysis of algae and marine sediments on the ronanian coastline of the Black Sea* - Study on the possibility of using algae as detectors for environmental pollution. - Analysis of human hair content. - Determination of oligoelements in human serum. AROEBOLOGI A great deal of the analysis work is being oarried on in co-operation and for the benefit of the history museums all over the country. Here are a few of. the oharaotoriatio works of this kinds - INAA of prehistorioal copper objects. - A correlation between the XRF and NAA methods in numismatic studies. - NAA studies on middle ago pottery. - NAA characterisation of bizantyne glass wares. INTBROOMPARISONS One of the interoomparisons, our nuclear analysts have taken part in, were those organised by I ABA'a Analityoal Quality Oontrol Servioe* Our most re- cant participation is oonnected with the determination of 32 elements at the p.p.m. level in 8OIL-7. a referenoe material prepared of a soil oelleoted near Xbonsoe in Upper AuBtria. We are glad to report good results in comparing our determinations with the oertified values of the AQO Servioe* In the past years the same kind of interoomparison participations have to be mentioned on rye flour, human hair, and mussel tissue materials* The same group of our most outstanding analysts have taken part in an in- teroomparison organised by the Institute of Radioeoology and Applied Nuclear Techniques of Kosice - Czechoslovakia, on referenoe materials realized from fly coal ashes* An interoomparison among the balkan countries would greatly increase the oonneotions and the co-operation of our laboratories* BPITHBR1IAL NEUTRON AOTIVATION ANALYSIS (BNAA) The determination of uranium and thorium in ores with high Th/U ratios or high rare earth oontents speoial problems arise in TNAA methods. The problem has been solved using epithermal neutrons for aotivation. Participation in a IAEA interaomparison on 8-14-, 8-15 and 8-16 reforenoe materials, has shown how good this method can be in suoh difficult matrioes. FAST NEUTRON AOTIVATION ANALYSES (PNAA) Three low energy accelerators are used as 14-*1 MeV neutron souroes, one of them entirely specialised on PNAA. This one, installed in the Institute for the Technology of Radiation Equipment is provided with speoial equipment for oxygen and low mass elements determinations. This equipment consists in an air rabbit having two parallel ways, one for the unknown sample and one for the standard, with simultaneous irradiation and also simultaneous measurement at two large Nal(Tl) measuring hea: ds, appropriately equilibrated* This installation carries on routine measurements on the determination of oxygen content In steels and aluminium. Also theoretical nuclear model calculations are being used to extent the neutron data basis available for applications.This computational method is based on the statistical model (Hauser - Feshbach STAPRE code) and the pre- equilibrium decay geometry dependent model* Thus en accurate theoretical des- cription of the fast neutron induced reactions is an useful alternate way to support FNAA. OHARGBD PARTICLES ACTIVATION ANALYSES (OFAA) The posibility of bringing out into the air of a proton beam at the cy- clotron, raised the possibility to install a gravitational sample changer at the end of a beam line and to perform mechanized analyses for protein deter- minations in grains. Protons of 14 UeV are being used and a (p,n) reaction on nitrogen helps to make the quantitative analysis of this element, that is closely conneoted to the protein content in grains* The installation, already in routine operations, analyses thousands of samples yearly, each sample mea- ning as container of about 4 cubic centimeters of wheat, barley, corn, sor^um or whatever other oereal* I include in the domain of charged particles activation analysis, a very interesting method of determination of the profiles of hydrogen content in the surface layers of solids, that has been put into work at the tandem Van de'Graaff accelerator. It uses the isolated narrow resonances that usually oocur in heavy ion induced reaotions* For instance, the reaotion H-S5 + H-l •• 0-12 + He-4 + gamma (4.43 MtV) has a oroas seotiot that is outside the resonanoe three orders of magnitude lower than on the peak. By bombarding the sample with N-15 ions of energy greater than the resonanoe (6*385 MeV) and detecting the resulting 4.4? MeV gamma rays by the help of a large volume Nal(Tl) detector, the distribution in depth of the hydrogen concentration is soanned, by gradually increasing the incident heavy ions energy* Interesting applications in microelectronics, spe- cial glasses industry, archaeology, silicon thin layers production, steal al- loys and superoonduoting •at«rials, have been found oat and co-operation with those fields are In prooess of being established. Aa tao Collective for nuclear Analyses has been organised in the Insti- tutt for Physios and Nuclear Engineering starting with the year 19B0, on* hopes that before long all the activities conneoted to nuclear analyse* of all kinds, aotivation included, to be batter co-ordinated and put on a more professional basis* ACTIVATION ANALYSIS IN GREECE A.P. Grimanis Radioanalytical Laboratory, Nuclear Research Center "Demokritos" 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi Attikis Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT Today Activation Analysis is widely applied to the investigation of medical, environmental, industrial, geological and archaeological problems. In this /eview the development of activation analysis methods as well as applications of these methods in medicine, environment, geology, and archaeology are described, mainly based on work done by the author's group in the Nuclear Research Center "Demokritos" of Greece. INTRODUCTION In the last 35 years there has been a tremendous growth of research, deve- lopment and applications of neutron activation analysis (NAA) which resulted in a dramatic increase of the relevant literature, showing an exponential growth from 13 papers in 1949 to over 700 in 1971 (1). This represents a doubling time of about three and one half years. From 1971 up to date NAA reached maturity. The annual accretion of papers in the literature kept an exponential growth pattern at a more reduced rate, more or less equal to that of analytical chemistry (Z). In 1968 and 1969 two new scientific journals, the Radioanalytical Chemistry and the Radioanalytical Letters were circulated to cover the continuous growth of publica- tions related to NAA. The increasing international interest for NAA is evident from the number of papers presented at International Conferences of Modern Trends in Activation Ana- lysis (MTAA). In 1961 during the first MTAA Conference about 1/4 of the presented papers were from 6 only countries other than USA (3) while during the 5th and 6th MTAA Conferences in 1976 and 1981 more than 3/4 of the presented papers were from more than 25 countries other than USA. Several factors contributed to the increasing international interest for NAA some of which are: the establishment of research nuclear reactors in many coun- tries of the world. The use of other nuclear projectiles (charged particles - photons) to the arsenal of activation analysis. The development of radiochemical separation techniques, which, combined with NAA, increased the sensitivity of NAA for some elements to quantities below 10~9 grams. However the main factors which contributed most for the international recognition of NAA were the development of multichannel analyzers (4) and Ge(Li) detectors (5) for v-ray counting and the possibility of v-ray spectra processing by computer techniques. All these increased the number of trace elements which can be determined by Instrumental NAA, reduced the time of analysis and greatly extended the scope of the method. In many cases NAA can be applied successfully as an Instrumental non-destructive multielement analysis method, based upon multi-channel gamma-ray spectrometry of the neutron activated sample. Today NAA is widely applied to the investigation of biomedical, environmental industrial, geological and archaeological problems. Due to its great sensitivity precision and accuracy it is considered as an ideal method for the determination of a large number of minor and trace elements in several materials. In this paper a review of research and development on NAA as well as examples of applications of this method in medicine, environment, geology and archaeology is presented, taken from work carried out over the last 21 years at the Radioana- lytical Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry in the Greek Nuclear Research Center "Demokritos". Charged particle activation analysis and delayed neutron counting methods are also mentioned. DEVELOPMENT OF NAA METHODS AT THE RADIOANALYTICAL LABORATORY In the last 21 years improved and/or faster radiochemical NAA methods have been developed at our Laboratory for the determination of Au(6), Ni(7), Cl(8), As(11), Cu(14), UC15), V(30), Cr(45), Eu(52), Hg(87) and Mo(88) in several materials as well as for the simultaneous determination of Br and 1(9), Mg, Sr and Ni(12), As and Cu(16), As, Sb and Hg(17), Mn, Sr and Ba(19), Cd and Zn(28), Se and As(28), Mo and Cr(28) in biological materials. Instrumental NAA methods have also bn developed for the determination of Ag, Cl and Na in lake waters (6), Al, Ca, Mg and V in wines (100) seven trace elements in biological materials (28), 17 trace elements in sediments (46) and 20 minor and trace elements in ceramics (47) . We have also developed a coprehensive computer program for routine activation analysis using Ge(Li) detectors (36). APPLICATIONS OF NAA IN MEDICAL RESEARCH In 1971 a review article was written on medical applications of NAA (23) to inform MDs in Greece about the availability of NAA methods in medical research. Cystic Fibrosis is a frequent chronic disease of childhood. Its frequency is 1 in 2000 live births. Early diagnosis followed by the appropriate therapeutic program can help a number of children with this disease to survive to adult age. The sweat test is an accurate procedure most widely used for the detection of CF. This test however has its limitations. The time, expense and necessity for the patient to visit the laboratory limit the number of people who can be tested. In addition the sweat test cannot easily be performed in newborns, dehydrated an' malnourished infants. Kopito and Scwachman (111) first found increased concentrations of sodium in the nail clippings of patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Although their results were very valuable, the method they used was destructive of the sample, time- consuming and unacceptable for large scale applications. Nevertheless their find- ings prompted several investigators to apply Instrumental NAA of sodium in nail clippings for the diagnosis of C.F. Some of the advantages of INAA to nails as a tool for the detection of C.F. are listed below: a) Small samples (1 mg) are re- quired, b) Simultaneous analysis of many samples per day is possible (over 100), c) Samples are not destroyed. On the other hand nails are very convenient material; they can be clipped by anyone, anywhere and no special storage precautions are necessary. However, there is a problem. Since sodium is abundant in nature, conta- mination is freq'uent. Thus, cleaning the nails constitutes a major experimental difficulty. The problem is to remove the surface "contamination" sodium without affecting "intrinsic" sodium.

In the past we have applied INAA for the study of C.F. (24-26,31). We have developed an improved washing procedure for the removal of external sodium contami- nation from nail clippings which combined with instrumental NAA increased the dia- gnostic accuracy of the method from ^75% to >\.90t (25,26). We have developed a simple counting method of sodium-24 in irradiated nail clippings which makes pos- sible the use of inexpensive counting equipment for INAA of sodium in nails. We have successfully applied INAA for the determination of Na in fingernails of 80 patients with C.F. and 2531 controls. The nail sodium ratio of patients to children was 3 to 1 in three pediatric groups examined (newborns, infants, children). We have made a systematic study of 11 more trace elements (Al, As, Br, Ca, Cl, Co, Cu, Mg, Mn, K and Zn) in fingernails of patients with C.F. and controls using NAA. Bromine and chlorine concentrations in nails of C.F. patients of all age groups were found to be 2 to 5 times higher than those of healthy children. Increased potassium and copper concentrations were found only in the nails of in- fants and children. No significant differences were found for the rest of the ele- ments. Increased bromine concentrations were first reported by our group (24). Be- side Na and Cl values, Br in nail clippings from patients with C.F. can be used as supplementary indicator for C.F. Concentrations of Br, Cl and Na determined by INAA at our Lab. in the sweat of C.F. patients were found to be 2.5, 4.0 and 6.0 times higher respectively than those of controls. This research work was partially supported by the IAEA for 3 years (Research Contracts 689/RB/1969, 689/R1/1970, 689/R2/1971). This work was done in collaboration with the First Pediatric Clinic of Athens University. Changes of metabolism happen in women's organism during gestation which are probably necessary for the development of the embryo. The concentrations of Zn, Co, Cu, Se, As, Au, Br and Rb have been determined by NAA in maternal and umbilical cord blood sera as well as in healthy non-pregnant women who served as controls (35,39,44,56). The concentrations of Zn and Co were significantly lower, those of Cu and Au significantly higher while levels of As, Se, Br and Rb were similar in sera of pregnant as compared to sera of non-pregnant women. The mean value of Zn in the umbilical cord sera was about two times higher and that of As 1.7 times higher'than those in mothers. Toxic levels of As were not found in the studied cases.INAA has been applied for thu determination of Co, Rb, Se and Zn in maternal and umbilical cord serum and amnioiic fluid of women with normal pregnancy and prolonged pregnancy (89,90). Significantly lower levels of Co, Se and Zn were found in maternal blood serum and cord serum of women with prolonged pregnancy as compared 10

with those in sera of mothers with normal pregnancy. Zn concentrations weTe also found significantly lower in amniotic fluid of women with prolonged pregnancy.

Six trace elements (Zn, Co, Se , Rb, Br and Au) were also determined in pla- cental and liver tissue samples at birth (53). The mean concentration of the essential trace elements (Zn, Co, Se) were significantly higher in liver than in placenta, whereas the non-essential trace elements (Rb, Br, Au) were found in significantly higher concentrations in placental than in liveT tissue.

The principal food of infants during the first months of their life is human milk or cow's milk and commercial infant foods. NAA has been applied for the determination of seven trace elements (Co, Cr, Cu, Se, Zn, Rb and As) in colostrum, transitional and mature human milk as well as in powdered cow's milk and commercial infants foods in order to find out whether non-breast-fed infants received the same or different amounts of- these trace elements as breast-fed ones. Results have been reported (61). Among them it was found that average concentration of Cu in human milk is about 9 times higher than that of cow's milk.

These works were done in collaboration with the Second Pediatric Clinic of the University of Athens with the exception of the trace element studies in blood sera and amniotic fluid of women with normal and prolonged pregnancies which were performed with the collaboration of the First Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Athens.

The distribution pattern of Zn, Co, Se, Fe, Cs and Sb has been found by INAA in three parts of myomatus uterus: myoma, endometrium and myometrium. The content of these elements was also determined in submucous, intTamural and subserous myoma (41,62). The variation of the content of Zn, Co and Se in myoma and myome- trium was found to be very significant statistically compared with the variation of these elements in endometrium. The concentration of the six trace elements determined in myoma, myometrium and endometrium has been correlated with age. This work was done in collaboration with the department of Pathology of the University of Athens.

The distribution of three essential trace elements (Co, Se and Zn) in the eyes of premature and normal newborn babies has been studied (40). This work was done in collaboration with the Second Pediatric Clinic and the First Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Athens.

Trace elements have been determined in the lens, nail and serum of patients with cataract (67,78). The distribution pattern of Ag, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se and Zn in the human cataractous lenses has been studied using INAA. Dif- ferences of concentrations of these trace elements were found in the cataractous lens regarding the concentrations of the same elements in the normal lens (91,92). These works were done in collaboration with the Eye Clinics of the University of Athens.

Active constituents of medicinal plants are products of plant metabolism which is influenced from the variation of the concentration of trace elements. Twenty seven trace elements have been determined in the different parts of the medical plant Helleborus cyclophyllus Boiss and in the soil in which the plant had grown (64,68). The attributed diuretic action in potassium content in some medi- cinal plants has been studied in correlation with the daily requirement for this element in man (69). Recently simple and rapid NAA methods have been developed and used for the direct and indirect determination of active ingredients in drugs (70,96,103,106) and cosmetics (102,105). These works were done in collaboration with the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology of the University of Athens.

Our Laboratory in collaboration with the Department of Pathology of the Uni- versity of Athens was participating under a research agreement at a WHO/IAEA Joint Research Program for the study of trace elements in cardiovasc ' ir diseases (110).

NAA METHODS IN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

In the last 21 years in our Laboratory NAA methods have been developed and applied to trace elements research in the environment.

In environmental studies we have determined: seventeen trace elements (Ag, As, Au, Ba, Br, Cl, Cu, I, Mg, Mn, K, Na, Ni, Re, Sr, V and Zn) in surface and bottom waters from 11 most important lakes of Greece (6,12), the arsenic uptake in grapes and plant tissues (20,21) and the uptake of Cu, Mn and Zn in needles of seedlings of Pinus grown under a wide spectrum of soil conditions (18). Bromine in soils polluted with bromine pesticides and in the same soils after treatment n with water (34). Several trace elements in drinking water of the Athens area, in river waters and in water pipes (113). Eleven trace elements (Al, As, Br, Ca, Cl. Cu, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V) in experimental and commercial red and white wines from different wine production areas of Greece (16, 81, 100). Certain inorganic nutrients in natural and artificial food of Dacus oleae larvae (60). Nine trace elements (Ag, Co, Cr, Cs, Sb, Sc, Se, V and Zn) in three edible mollusk species (100). A study of trace elements in greek lignites by INAA has been started (113) in collaboration with the Institute of Geological and Mining Research. However most of the trace element environmental research work done in our Laboratory has been concerned with the marine environment. In marine pollution studies we have determined: Br, Cu, I, V and Zn in Pura microcosmus (13). Ten trace elements in the whole body and in ten different parts of the fish Pagellus erythrinus (29), 12 trace elements (Ag, As, Ba, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Hg, Mn, Sb.Sr arid" W in Cynthia claudicans (30). Toxic trace elements and elements of radioecologi- cal importance in mollusk species (27,42) in echinoderm species (43,66) and tuni- cate species (49) from Saronikos Gulf, Greece. It was found that certain of these marine organisms may be characterized as radioactive and industrial pollution indicators. In NAA of As and Hg in Pagellus erythrinus (33) and of As, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, Rb, Sb, Se and Zn in Sargus annularis (54), arsenic concentrations in the flesh of these two fish species were found to be two times higher in samples from polluted areas as compared with samples from the unpolluted areas of the island of Rhodes and Petalion Gulf. Within the framework UNEP MED POLL II Project, a systematic pollution moni- toring of 14 trace elements (Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Mg, Rb, Sb, Se, V and Zn) in Mullus barbatus and Parapenaeus longirostris (58,73,74) has shown increased concentrations of As in the flesh of Mullus barbatus from northern Saronikos Gulf when compared with specimens from other gulfs of Greece. All higher concentrations of arsenic found in fish species of Saronikos gulf are within the "natural back- ground" levels reported for edible fish by other investigators. No significant differences for the rest of the trace elements were found in the flesh of these marine organisms studied in Northern Saronikos Gulf as compared with the same orga- nisms from other gulfs. It seems that these benthic organisms do not reflect the very high trace element concentrations found in seawaters and sediments of the Keratsini bay in the northern Saronikos Gulf.

A study of trace elements (Ag, As, Au, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hg, Hf, La, Lu, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Yb, Zn) as an index to pollution in sea sediments (32,37,46,63) from the northern Saronikos Gulf has been made by INAA. It was found that the discharge of industrial and domestic wastes in the Keratsini and Elefsis bays of the upper Saronikos Gulf has led to elevated concentrations of all toxic and other trace elements determined over at least 100 km2 of seafloor. The 0.5N HC1 extraction method (112) of the silt-clay fraction of sediments was used and was successful for the distinction between anthropogenic and residual concentrations of As and Zn in the sediments (95). Increased concentrations of As, Co, Cs, Cu, Fe, Mg, Rb, Sb, Sc and Zn have been found in seawater samples collected near the main sewage outfall of Keratsini Bay and to a much lesser degree from Faliron Bay (97,113). The affected area how- ever is not very extended since concentration of trace elements fall to natural background levels within 5 km2 from the outfall. Six trace elements (As, Co, Cs, Fe, Se and Zn) have been determined by INAA in otoliths of the pelagic fish Scomber japonicus colias from the Aegean Sea (65, 71). It has been found that in general the content of the studied elements in otoliths decreases with increasing age of the fish. Several trace elements have been also determined by NAA methods in skeletal formation of fish species (48) in plankton (50,85) in marine organisms and sediments of the Aegean Sea (51,59,72,75, 76,83,84,86,93,94,99). Recently the distribution of arsenic in water columns, water particulates and sediment cores from Northern Saronikos Gulf has been studied (109). INAA has been applied for the determination of nine trace elements (Ag, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Rb, Sc, Se and Zn) in the medusae Aurelia aurita and Pelagia noctiluca (104) and in muscle, liver and heart of Boops boops and TracTiurus mediterraneus (108). Within the framework of the scientific collaboration between the Activation Analysis Group of the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy (INRNE) of Sofia, Bulgaria and the Radioanalytical Laboratory of the Nuclear Research Center Demokritos, nine trace elements (As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mg, Rb, Se, V and Zn) were deter* mined by NAA in the flesh and liver of the edible fish Gobius niger caught from Varna Bay, Bulgaria and Saronikos and Petalion Gulfs, Greece. No dangerous concentration 12

- for the human health - of the nine trace elements under investigation were found in all samples of the Gobius niger, Our laboratory has particinated at the UNEP MED TOM. II and UNEP MED POLL VIII P.ojects for the protection of the Mediterranean. The partial financial support of our laboratory for these projects by UNEP/FAO as well as for the Research Program "Fates and Pathways of trace elements in the Saronikos Gulf" by the European Econo- mic Communities is gratefully acknowledged. NAA IN ARCHAEOLOGY INAA is widely applied to the investigation of archaeological problems. Ele- mental composition, of an object of art besides form, shape and decorative style may give a supplementary indication of the origin of the object. The museum curator will often permit the removal of a specimen from an object for analysis if the amount taken is such a tiny fleck (a few ings) that its absence is virtually unde- tectable. In such small quantities of a pottery sample for example more than 20 trace elements can be determined by INAA. At our laboratory we have applied INAA methods to the investigation of prove- nance problems of ancient books, ceramics, obsidians, flints, limestones and marbles. We have examined 50 paper samples from old Venetian books (38) in order to correlate the concentrations of trace elements and the age of the books. INAA has been applied for the determination of 20 minor and trace elements (As, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Hf, La, Cu, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, Yb and *Zn) in two groups of potsherds (47) which have been excavated at two different sites of Greece, the island of Thasos (Group A) and Delos (Group B). A good agreement for all the elements examined between the pottery specimens of Groups A and B was found. This matching in chemical composition found by INAA between the two groups A and B provides strong support for the archaeologistrs hypothesis that the two groups belong to the same major group of "melian" pottery. INAA and X-ray techni- ques have been applied for the determination of 24 major, minor and trace elements in four different groups of vases (55,77). Protocorinthian, Thapsos Class, Late Geometric Corinthian and Aigion Crater). The matching in chemical composition of the four groups of vases found, strongly suggests the same origin for all of them. X-ray and NAA and mineralogical examination have been applied to obsidian samples found in the excavation of Kitsos cave at Sounion (82). The trace element concentrations found in Kitsos obsidian match with those of Melos origin found in previous works. Current research at our Laboratory on Archaeometry deals with provenance studies of ancient pottery from the islands of Naxos and Thera, and Peloponese, as well as ancient marble from different sites of Greece. Within the framework of collaboration between the AA group of the (INRNE) of Sofia, Bulgaria and the Radioanalytical Lab of NRC Demokritos, Greece a common project started on the development and application of NAA methods to the study of trace elements in flint samples from flint quarries and ores from Bulgaria and Greece as well as in archaeological flint objects found in museums of honey or white honey colour. CHARGED PARTICLES ACTIVATION ANALYSIS A rather extended charged particle activation analysis program is carried out for the last 10 years at the Tandem van der Graaff Accelerator Laboratory of the NRC Demokritos, by another group. It includes Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) analysis, Particle Induced Prompt Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE), other nuclear reactions and proton activation analysis. It should be noted that the first exter- nal beam PIXE technique was established by this group (114,115). Several papers (116-121) have been reported with applications in the field of biological, environmental sciences in archaeometry etc. DELAYED FISSION NEUTRON COUNTING A special neutron activation method, the delayed fission neutron counting method is used for the analysis of fissionable elements, as U.Th.Pu, in samples of the whole nuclear fuel cycle including geological, enriched and nuclear safeguards samples. At NRC Demokritos so far the method has been applied extensively to geo- logical samples for uranium exploration (122). 13

In conclusion, I would like to add that NAA is another peaceful application of atomic energy. In biomedical and environmental research it may contribute to a higher standard of living. It can also be advantageously used to solve indus- trial, geological and archaeological problems. However, a close collaboration of clinicians, biochemists, physiologists, environmentalists, ecologists, oceanogra- phers, industrialists, geologists and archaeologists with activation analysis spe- cialists is necessary.

REFERENCES

1. G.J. LUTZ, R.J. BORENI, R.S. MADDOCK, J. WING, Activation Analysis: A biblio- graphy through 1971. Nat. Bur. Stand. (USA) Tech. Note 467 Aug. 1972. 2. F. GIRARDI. J. Radioanal. Chem., 69 (1982) 15. 3. W.S. LYON, J. Radioanal. Chem., 69 (1982) 107. 4. W.S.CROUTAMEL.F..R.DAMS, Applied Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy, Pergamon Press, New York, 1970. 5. F. GIRARDI, G. GUZZI in "Advances in Activation Analysis", vol. 1. J.M.A. LENIHAN, S.J. THOMSON (eds) Academic Press, London and New York, 1972, p.137. 6. A.P. GRIMANIS, G. PANTAZIS, C. PAPADOPOULOS, N. TSANOS, Proc. 3rd U.N. Conf. Peaceful Uses Atom. Energy, Geneva 15 (1964) 412. Part of this work was also published at the Journal Isotopes and Radiation Technology 2 (1965) 345. 7. A.G. SOULIOTIS, Anal. Chem. 36 (1964) 1385. 8. A.G. SOULIOTIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, N.A. TSANOS, Analyst 90 (1965) 499. 9. E.P. BELKAS, A.G. SOULIOTIS. Ibid 91 (1966) 199. 10. A.G. SOULIOTIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, N.A. TSANOS, Talanta 13 (1966) 158. 11. A.P. GRIMANIS, A.G. SOULIOTIS, Analyst 92 (1967) 549. 12. A.G. SOULIOTIS, E.P. BELKAS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Ibid 92 (1967) 300. 13. C. PAPADOPOULOU, C.T. CAZIANIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Proc. Nuclear Activation Techni- ques in the Life Sciences, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (1967) p. 365. 14. A.P. GRIMANIS, Talanta 15 (1968) 279. 15. D.C. PERRICOS, E.P. BEI.KAS, Ibid 16 (1969) 745. 16. A.P. GRIMANIS, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Spec. Publication 312, Vol.1 (1969) p. 197. 17. I. HADZISTELIOS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) Spec. Publication 312 Vol. (1969) p. 184. 18. N. YASSOGLOU, S. VRACHAMIS, C. NOBELI, A. GRIMANIS, N. TSANOS, C. APOSTOLAKIS, E. PAPANICOLAOU, Final Report USDA PL 480. Research Project No.E11-F.S.2 Athens (1969). 19. I. HADZISTELIOS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, Talanta 16 (1969) 337. 20. A.P. GRIMANIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, B. DARIS, I. KELPERIS, Les Progress Agricole et Veticole An. 87 (1970) 10, 87 (1970) 38 (in French). 21. B.T. DARIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU. I. KELPERIS. A.P. GRIMANIS. Proc. of the 10th British Wheat Control Conference at Brighton. Enqland, vol. 1.(1970) p. 429. 22. A.P. GRIMANIS, M. GRIMANI, Proc. of the 4th Panhellenic Chem. Congr. in Athens (1970) p. 123 (in Greek). 23. A.P. GRIMANIS, latriki 20 (1971) 85 (in Greek). 24. A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, M. NICOLAIDOU, Ann. Paed. Clin. Univ. Athens 18 (1971) 233 (in Greek). 25. M. NIKOLAIDOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, XIII Intern. Congr. of Paediatrics, Vienna, Genetics vol. 5 (1971) 509. 26. A.P. GRIMANIS, M. NIKOLAIDOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Application of neutron activation analysis in the study of cystic fibrosis. Final Report, IAEA Research Contract 689/RB Athens (1972). 27. C. PAPADOPOULOU, Contribution in the Radioecology of the Greek seas. Trace element determination in edible molliisks. Ph.D. Thesis, Athens University, Athens (1972) pp. 140 (in Greek). 28. A.P. GRIMANIS, G. PAPACOSTIDIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, N. PAPA- CHARALAMBUS, G. PLASSARAS, D. KOTOULASj Neutron activation analysis methods for the determination of 14 trace elements in tissue samples. Results obtained with analytical reference materials in trace elements in relation to cardio- vascular diseases, Technical Report IAEA 157, Vienna (1973) p. 29. 29. C. PAPADOPOULOU, I. HADZISTELIOS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Hellenic Oceanology and Limno- logy. XI (1973) 601 (in Greek). 30. C. PAPADOPOULOU. I. HADZISTELIOS. A.P. GRIMANIS. Hellenic Oceanoloev and Limno- logy XI (1973) 651 . 31. M. NIKOLAIDOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, G. ADAM, Ann. Paed. Clin. Univ. Athens 20 (1973) 141. 32. T. HOPKINS, A.P. GRIMANIS, G. PAPACOSTIDIS, T. PAPADOPOULOS, Thalassia Jugosla- vica, 9(1/2) (1973) 219. 33. C. PAPADOPOULOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, I. HADZISTELIOS, Ibid 9(1/2) (1973) 211. 34. A.P. GRIMANIS, Certain aspects of neutron activation analysis as applied to biological materials: Panel meeting on practical aspects of Neutron Activation Analysis, IAEA, Vienna (1973). 14

3B. D. ALEXIOU, Contribution in the study of trace elements in the mother and the newly born baby. Thesis submitted for a Readership at the University of Athens Athens (1974) (in Greek). 36. W. BOCK-WERTHMAN, G. PAPAKOSTIDIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, J. PETROU, D. GEORGIOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, "ACTANAL" A comprehensive computer program for routine activation analysis using Ge(Li) detectors. Rept. DEMO 74/15, Greek AEC, NRC Demokritos, Athens (1974). 37. G. PAPACOSTIDIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, G.B, GRIGGS, T. HOPKINS, Marine Pollut. Bull. 6(9) (1975) 136. 38. M.I. KARAYANNIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, A.P. GRIMANIS; Chimika Chronika, New •Series 3 (1974) 21. 39. D. ALEXIOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, M. GRIMANI, Arch. Med. Soc Athens (1975) p. 234, (in Greek). 40. E. KOUMANTAKIS, The concentration of Zn, Zo and Se in the eyes of the premature and normal newborn babies. M.D. Thesis, Univ. of Athens, Athens (1976) (in Greek). 41. E. BAIRAKTARI-KOURI, Contribution in the study of trace elements, Zn,Fe,Co,Cs, Se.Sb in myomatus uterus. M.D. Thesis University of Athens, Athens (1976) (in Greek). 42. C. PAPADOPOULOU, G.D. KANIAS, Acta Adriatica, Vol. XVIII (1976) 365. 43. C. PAPADOPOULOU, G.D\ KANIAS, E. MORAITOPOULOU-KASSIMATI, Marine Poll. Bull. 7(8) (1976) 143. 44. D. ALEXIOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, M. GRIMANI, G. PAPAEVANGELOU, C. PAPADATOS, Biology of the Neonate, 28 (1976) 191. 45. C. PAPADOPOULOU, G. KANIAS, I. HADZISTELIOS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 31 (1976) 389. 46. A.P. GRIMANIS, M VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, G.B. GRIGGS, Ibid 37 "(1977) 761. 47. A.P. GRIMANIS, M VASSILAKI-GRIKANI, M.I. KARAYANNIS, Ibid 39 (1977) 21. 48. C PAPADOPOULOU, E. KASSIMATI, Thalassia Yugoslavia 13 (1977) 187. 49. C PAPADOPOULOU, G.D. KANIAS, Marine Poll. Bull. 8 (19770 229. 50. D ZAFIROPOULOS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Ibid. 8 (1977) 79. 51 . C PAPADOPOULOU, I, HADZISTELIOS, Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer. Medit. 24 (1977) 89. 52. I HADZISTELIOS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, J. Radioanal. Chem. 36 (1977) 427. 53. D. ALEXIOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, E. KOUMANTAKIS, G. PAPAEVANGELOU, M. GRIMANI, C.PAPA- DATOS, Paediatric Research 11 (1977) 646. 54. A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Environmental Science and Technology 12 (1978) 723. 55. A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, S. FILIPPAKIS, N. YALOURIS, N. BOSANA- KOUROU, STILI Memorial Volume to N. Kontoleontos (1978) 318 (in Greek). 56. A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ALEXIOU, M. GRIMANI, Paediatriki 41 (1978) 89 (in Greek). 57. D. ALEXIOU, A.P. GRIMANIS, M. GRIMANI, G. PAPAEVANGELOU, E. KOUMANTAKIS, C.PA- PADATOS, Iatriki 33 (1978) 56 (in Greek). 58. A.P. GRIMANIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, N. TSI- MENIDIS, IVes JourntSes Etud. Pollution ANTALYA, CIESM (1978) p. 233. 59. C. PAPADOPOULOU, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, I. HADZISTELIOS, C. YANNOPOULOS, M.VASSILAKI- GRIMANI , Ibid (1978) p. 231. 60. A.G. MANOUKAS, A.P. GRIMANIS, B. MAZOMENOS, Ann. Zool. Ecol. Anim. 10 (1978) 123. 61. A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, D. ALEXIOU, C. PAPADATOS, Proc. Nuclear Activation Techniques in the Life Sciences, IAEA, Vienna (1978) p. 241. 62. E. BAIRAKTARI-KOURT, C. PAPADOPOULOU, N. PAPACHARALAMBUS, Ibid. IAEA. Vienna (1978) p. 363. 63. G.B. GRIGGS, A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Environment. Geology 2 (1978) 97. 64. G.O. KANIAS, S.M. PHILIANOS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 46 (1978) 87. 65. C. PAPADOPOULOU, G.D. KANIAS, E. MORAITOPOULOU-KASSIMATI, Marine Pollut. Bull. 9 (1978) 106. 66. C. PAPADOPOULOU, I. HADZISTELIOS, Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer. Medit. 25/26 (1970) 5. 67. I. ROUSSOS, A.P. GRIMANIS, S. ECOVOMOU, Memorial volume to Prof. N. Charamis of the Hellenic Opthalmological Society (1979) 117 (in Oeek). 68. G.D. KANIAS, S.M. PHILIANOS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 52 (1979) 389. 69. G.D. KANIAS, A. LOUKIS, S.M. PHILIANOS, Ibid 54 (1979) 103. 70. G.D. KANIAS, Tbid. 60 (1980) 237. 71 . C. PAPADOPOU! OU, G.D. KANIAS, E. MORAITOPOULOU-KASSIMATI, Marine Poll. Bull. 11 (1980) 68. J.S. ANDREOTIS. C. PAPADOPOULOU. Ves .Tourne'es Etud. Pollutions Cagliari, CIESM (1980) 313. 73. A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Ibid. (1980) 407. 74 C. PAPADOPOULOU, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, A.P. GRIMANIS Ibid. (1980) 419. 75. M. ANGELIDIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Ibid.(1980) 413. 15

76. C. PAPADOPOULOU, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, Thalassia Yugoslavica 16 (1980) 293 77. A.P. GRIMANIS, S.E. FILIPPAKIS, B. PERDIKATSIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, N.BOSANA- KOUROU, J. Archaeological Science 7 (1980) 227. 78. A.P. GRIMANIS, S. ECONOMOU, Proc. Panhellenic Congr. of Opthalmology (1981) 1 8 7a 79. A.P. GRIMANIS, Proc. First Panhellenic Congress of the Hellenic Nuclear Society Athens, Section B21 (1981) 1 (in Greek). 80. A.P. GRIMANIS, Ibid. Section G3 (1981) 1 (in Greek). 81. A.P. GRIMANIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, G.D. KANIAS, Proc. 2nd Intern. Flavor Conference, Athens, in: "The Quality of Foods and Beverages Chemistry and Technology, (G. CHARALAMBOUS, G.INGLETT, Eds.) Academic Press N.Y. , vol. 2 (1981) 349. 82. S.E. FILIPPAKIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, B. PERDIKATSIS, Science and Archaeology 23 (1981) 21. 83. M. ANGELIDIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Proc. 1st Intern, Meeting on Environ. Pollution in the Medit. Region, Athens. Publication of the Medit. Scient. Association of Environ. Pollution (1981) 181. 84. D. ZAFIROPOULOS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Ibid. (1981) 187. 85. C. PAPADOPOULOU, I. HADZISTELIOS, M. ZIAKA, D. ZA^IROPOULOS, Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer. Medit. 27 (1981) 135. 86. C. PAPADOPOULOU, C. YANNOPOULOS, I. HADZISTELIOS, Ibid. 27 (1981) 195. 87. A.P. GRIMANIS, G.D. KANIAS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 72 (1982) 587. 88. I. HADZISTELIOS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, Ibid. 72 (1982) 597. 89. K. ANTONIOU. Concentrations of Se, Rb and Zn in maternal and cord blood serum and amniotic fluid of women with normal and prolonged pregnancies. M.D.Thesis, University of Athens (1982). 90. K. ANTONIOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, D. LOLIS, A.P. GRIMANIS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 70 (1982) 77. 91. A. KOURIS, Contribution in the study of the trace elements Zn, Fe, Co, Se, Rb, Sb, Ag, Cs, Cr and Se in the human cataractous lenses, M.D. Thesis, Univ. of Athens (1982). 92. G. THEODOSSIADIS, T. KOURIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, Opthalmic Research 14 (1982) 436. 93. J. ANDREOTIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, Vies Journees Etud. Pollutions Cannes CIESM (1982) 299. 94. A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, T. ECONOMOU, M. VASSILAKI- GRIMANI, Ibid. (1982) 319. 95. M. ANGELIDIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, A.P. GRIMANIS, Ibid. (1982) 339. 96. G.D. KANIAS, Contribution of Neutron Activation Analysis in Pharmaceutical Technology. Determination of active ingredients of drugs. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Athens, Athens (1983) (in Greek). 97. D. ZAFIROPOULOS, Application of Neutron Activation Analysis in studies of trace elements of Saronikos Gulf. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Athens, Athens (1983) 98. E. BAIRACTARI-KOURI, C. PAPADOPOULOU, M. AGAPITOS, N. PAPACHARALAMBUS, Proc. 15th European Congress of Pathology, Hamburg 1983 in "Pathology Research and Practices", 178 (1983) 109. 99. C. PAPADOPOULOU, J. ANDREOTIS, Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer. Medit. 28 (1983) 211. 100. A.P. GRIMANIS, MARIA-VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, G.D. KANIAS, Proc. 3rd Intern. Flavor Conference Corfu, Greece, in "Instrumental Analysis of Foods and Beverages" Recent Progress (G. CHARALAMBOUS, G. INGLETT, Eds.) Academic Press, N.Y., vol. 2 (1983) 323. 101. C. PAPADOPOULOU, Ibid. vol. 1 (1983) 423. 102. G.D. KANIAS, J. Radioanal. and Nucl. Chem. 82/1 (1984) 143. 103. G.D. KANIAS, N.H. CHOULIS, Ibid. 83/2 (1984) 261. 104. A. ECONOMOU, J. ANDREOTIS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, Ibid, (in press). 105. G.D. KANIAS, J. Radioanal. and Nucl. Chem. (in press). 106. G.D. KANIAS, N.H. CHOULIS, Ibid. 88 (1985) 281. GRIMANIS, G.D. 107. D. APOSTOLOV, M. IOVCHEV, L. KINOVA, I. PENEV, E. TASKAEV, A.P Vlles Journees KANIAS, C. PAPADOPOULOU, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, D. ZAFIROPOULOS Etud. Pollution, Lucerne CIESM (in press). 108. C. PAPADOPOULOU, J. ANDREOTIS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, C. YANNOPOULOS, Ibid, (in press). 109. A.P. GRIMANIS, D. ZAFIROPOULOS, N. KALOGEROPOULOS, M. VASSILAKI-GRIMANI, Ibid, (in press). 110. A.P. GRIMANIS, Proc. Research Coordination Meeting for the HMO/IAEA Joint Research Programme on Trace Elements in Cardiovascular Diseases, Kjeller, Nor-way 19-21 Sept. 1977. 111. L. KORITO, M. SHWACHAMAN, Nature 202 (1964) 501. 112. H. AGEMIAN, A.S.V. CHAU, Analyst 101 (1976) 761. 113. A.P. GRIMANIS, Unpublished data. 114. A.A. KATSANOS, A. XENOULIS, A. HADJIANTGMIOU, R.W. FINK, Nucl. Inst. and Meth. 137 (1976) 119. 115. A.A. KATSANOS, A. HADJIANTONIOU, Ibid. (1978) 469. 116. A.A. KATSANOS (invited review paper) Proc. Nuclear Activation Techniques in the Life Sciences, IAEA, Vienna (1978) 85. 117 Y. MANIATIS, A.A. KATSANOS, ANTHROPOS 7 (1980) 136. 118 A.C. XENOULIS, C.E. DOUKA, T. PARADELLIS, A.A. KATSANOS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 63 (1981) 65. 119 Y. MANIATIS, A.A. KATSANOS, Archaeometry 24 (1982) 191. 120 G.A. MOURKIDES, A.A. KATSANOS, M. TZOUMEZI, Chemistry in Ecology 1 (1983) 245. 121 G. BLONDIAU, J.L. DEBRUN, G. COSTA, A.A. KATSANOS, G. VOURVOPOULOS, Nucl. Inst. and Meth. Bl (1984) 66. 122. N.N. PAPADOPOULOS, J. Radioanal. Chem. 72 (1982) 463. 1=1 In

METHODS

IN

ACTIVATION ANALYSIS EPITHERMAL NEUTRON FLUX DISTRIBUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON {n,T) ACTIVATION ANALYSIS RESULT reactor 1,2 These are:

S.Jovanovic+, F.De Corte++ , A.Simonits+++, L.Moens++, P.Vukotic+, - the moderation takes place in a homogeneous, infinite medium; R.Zejnilovi

qQ = "source strength", i.e. number of fission neutrons arriving INTRODUCTION per cm3 and per second at the considered site; After being released by fission of the fuel nuclei, with MeV order ene- { = average logarithmic energy decrement per collision; rgies, neutrons in a thermal reactor undergo successive collisions with the N = number of moderator nuclei per cm; moderator atomic nuclei, losing gradually their energy, down to the thermal I os = microscopic cross-section for elastic scattering ( s=Nus region (meV energies). While in this (moderation or slowing-down) state, ne- is the macroscopic scattering cross-section). utrons contribute to the epithermal spectrum. The exact theoretical treatment of the moderation process is extremely Resonance integral (Io), an essential nuclear parameter when perfo- complicated, due to the multiplicity and complexity of the partial processes rming absolute or comparator type standardization methods in (n,T") reactor involved. However, a fair approximate solution is obtained by introducing neutron activation analysis (NAA), is defined, measured, tabulated in lite- some simplifications, which are more or less adequate for a general thermal rature and should be used assuming ideal (1/E) epithermal flux shape: J (3) Research Associate of the National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium ECd with In presence of resonance absorption, relation (1), describing the ECd " effective cd cutt-off energy (=o.55eV) epithermal flux distribution is modified to : o 1) the 1/E epithermal distribu- for small reactors than for large ones. The impact of leakage is hence clo- tion is not valid in the energy range close to the energies at which neutrons sely related to the reactor configuration. are produced (significant from -0.1 MeV on). This deviation is described by PLACZEK and increases with increasing mass number of the moderator. c) Absorgtion (resonance or 1/v) of neutrons during moderation is neglected. However, it inevitably occurs: by fuel (e.g. 35U), by fertile However, close to 0.1 MeV, the epithermal spectrum is already distu- material (e.g.Z38U), by structural material (steel, etc.)t control and sa- rbed by the low energy tail of the fast spectrum; 0.1 MeV is thus usually fety elements, poisons or by the moderator itself. This topic has been considered as the upper limit of epithermal neutrons. 3 extensively studied , since it is essential for reactor criticality calcu- From the practical (n,V) -activation standpoint, neutrons from this lations (neutron balance). region are, in any case, too few to be significant. The assumption of homogeneity of the medium is only satisfied when it Thus the parameter „ , to a first approximation energy independent, is is a liquid, not when it is a solid (e.g.graphite). In the latter case, tubes a measure of the epithermal spectrum deviation from the ideal 1/E-distribution; or gaps are made trough to let the coolant flow. for a =0, »g{E)~l/E.

e) Inelastic_and_anisotrogic elastic scattering are neglected. This u can be positive or negative, corresponding to a softened or hardened means that solely elastic scattering is considered responsible for the slo- spectrum, respectively, as compared to the ideal one. This is illustrated in wing-down of neutrons. Fig. 2. When plotting log . ""'(E) vs.log E, a straight line is obtained with Inelastic scattering is possible only above the treshold energy which slope = -(1+a). is a few MeV for light nuclei; thus, it does not affect the epithermal spe- The numerical value of a for a given position in a reactor could be, ctrum. in principle, calculated using some of the formulae given in literature . Anisotropic (not spherically symmetric) elastic scattering occurs However, theoretical descriptions of a generally suffer from inevitable (over- with p-wave neutrons (angular momentum = 1) and is considerable above 0.1 MeV. simplifications, the validity of which'varies from one reactor to another, or This effect would increase the 1/E-fiux with increasing energy. even from one irradiation site to another in the same reactor. For practical purposes, experimental a-determination , being general, more accurate and The elastic scattering cross-section {a) is assumed constant (energy relatively simple is a better and already explored alternative. independent) within the epithermal energy region. For light nuclei, used as moderator, this is valid up to~0.1 MeV, or even less (~10 keV for H), as Let us still mention that the 1/E model surely does not fit exactly w the epithermal spectrum shape.It is only a better approximation than the ide- shown in Fig.l. The variation of a% directly influences the e(E) shape [Eqs. (1). (2)1. alized 1/E - form. Detailed error propagation study showed, however, that the 1/E ° model was necessary to employ, but also sufficient for use in absolute We will keep in mind that 0.1 HeV is the upper epithermal energy limit, and comparator NAA 1.4 the region above having little relative importance in practice.

f) Moderator atoms are considered as free and at rest before collision THE IMPACT OF EPITHERMAL SPECTRUM DEVIATION ON NAA RESULT with neutrons. This is fair as long as the neutron energies are much above the thermal. Once they are comparable, thermal agitation (and even chemical Since the definition of resonance integral [ Eq.(3)) holds for the id- bindings) of the moderator atoms will affect the spectrum. eal epithermal spectrum, the latter should be corrected for the actual dis- tribution: In practice, however, the lower limit of the epithermal spectrum is de- termined by the "cadmium cut-off energy" (=o.55eV) , thus sufficiently high w = JJ d£ (7) E 7t*a so that the above has no influence on the 1/E shape. Cd

15 So as to describe the real epithermal flux distribution, a semieprirical To convert lQ - yo) the following relation is used : representation a P. " 1.-0.429 a 0.429oo (6) (8) with 0 as in (2) and E (=leV) an arbitrary energy, was introduced ' for its a with simplicity and good agreement with the experimental data. AHMAD recently rela- ted a to the actual properties of a reactor and showedthe physical reasonab- a = (n,Y) cross-section at 22oo m.s neutron velocity; leness of the form (6) chosen. Er= effective resonance energy ~ (in eV), which is characteristic of the isotope. When neglecting the epithermal spectrum nonideality in absolute or CONCLUSION comparator NAA, i.e. when employing Io in place of I0M. an error is made on the analysis result. The magnitude of the error depends on: The nonideality of the epithermal neutron flux distribution should . be taken into account when performing absolute or comparator methods - the isotope, characterized by its E and Q values (Q =I /ff )J r Q 0 0 0 of (n.lf) activation analysis - significant errors could appear otherwi- - the irradiation conditions, determined by f and a; f is the se. Two parameters are sufficient for the correction: a , the measure thermal to epithermal flux ratio (shortly "flux ratio"): f=0t[)/(Je; of the epithermal nonideality and the effective resonance energy (E ), - the comparator used (when applying k - or another comparator characterizing the isotope investigated. method); - the type of analysis, i.e. whether the sample is irradiated in the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS whole reactor spectrum (reactor neutron activation analysis, RNAA), or with thermal neutrons screened out by Cd - filter (epicadmium neutron The financial support of the National Fund for Scientific Research activation analysis , ENAA). (Belgium) and of the Montenegrin SIZ for Science (Yugoslavia) is highly 14 Since the more detailed error - study overcomes the scope of the appreciated. present paper, let us limit to a few interesting conclusions: - errors are higher than 60% in soma extreme cases; often 5-15" in RNAA and Z5-4o% in ENAA, - errors are larqerin ENAA (Cd-covered activation) than in RNAA (bare REFERENCES activation).This i- due to the fact that in ENAA the whole activity is induced by epithermal neutrons (whose nonideal spectrum causes the error), 1. A.M. WEINBERG, E.P. WIGNER, The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors, while in RNAA the error is reduced due to the thermal activation contri- The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1958 bution. 2. P.SCHUMANN, D., Kernenergie, 2 (1965) 88 - in general, error increases with the absolute value of a ; - errors are larger for isotopes with high Q - factor,than for those 3. A.M.WEINBERG, E.P.WIGNER, Proceedings of the Brookhaven Conference on ones with low QQ.For yery low QQ(e.g. QO<1) the errors are negligible; Resonance Absorption of Neutrons in Nuclear Reactor (BNL-433) 1956 these isotopes do not ask for I_-I.(») correction. 4. J.R.LAMARSH, Nuclear Reactor Theory, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Menlo 18 19 Park, London, Amsterdam, Don Mills, Sydney, 1966 (second printing, 1972) - In single comparator methods (e.g. kQ- ' J, the error reduces for the isotopes whose Qn and E_ values are close to those ones of the compa- 5. G.PLACZEK, Phys. Rev., 69 (1946) 423 rator (e.g. 197Au), since the comparator is exposed to the same epithermal deviation as the isotope analysed. 6. H.GOLDSTEIN.J.A.HARVEY, J.S.STORY, C.H.WEST COTT, Recommended Definitions for Resonance Integral Cross-sections, Rept. EANDC-12 (1961) To correct the analysis result for the epithermal flux nonideality, 7. T.B.RYVES, Metrologia, 5 (1969) 119 the values of a and Er should be known [ Eq.(8}| . As already mentioned, it is relatively easy to determine a experimentally, while Er's can be 8. A.AHMAD, "Evaluation of Neutron Spectra and Activation Data in Thermal found in literature ' or measured independently ' . In most cases the Reactors", Ph. D. Thesis, University of London, Reactor Centre, 1982 remaining error on the analysis result after correction (originating from 9. Guidebook for the ENDF/E-V Nuclear Data Files, EPRI NP-251o Project 975-1 the inaccuracies in a and E - values) is within tolerable limits. p Electric Power Research Institute and BNL, Upton, New York, 1982 10. H.M.R.WILLIAMS, The Slowing Down and Thermalization of Neutrons, North Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam 1966 11. F.DE CORTE, L.MOENS, K.SORDO-EL HAHMAMI, A.SIMONITS, J.HOSTE. J.Radioanal. Chem., 52/2 (1979) 3o5 100. jfelllll I III] I nil I Illj I nil I nil I III] I nil I Illj I Ml] I III] I lll[j 50. 12. F.DE CORTE, L.MOENS, A.SIMONITS, A.DE WISPELAERE, J.HOSTE, J.Radioanal. Chem., 52/2 (1979) 295 to" 13. F.DE CORTE, K.SORDO-EL HAMMAMI, L.MOENS, A.SIMONITS, A.DE WISPELAERE, i.o J.HOSTE, J.Radioanal. Chem., 62 (1981) 2o9 ±\ ml i nil i ml i ml i nil I nil I nil i nil i nil i nil i ml i ml. 14. S.JOVANOVIC, "The Effective Resonance Energy as a New Parameter in (n,lf) Activation Analysis with Reactor Neutrons", Ph.D. Thesis, Unive- I lll| I I i 11 I lll| I Illj I Illj I III) III!) I I rsity of Gent, 1984. 15. L.MOENS, F.DE CORTE, A.SIMONITS, A.DE WISPELAERE, J.HOSTE, J.Radioanal. "Be Chem., 52 (1979) 379 16. S.JOVANOVIC, F.DE CORTE, L.MOENS, A.SIMONITS, J.HOSTE, J.Radioanal. nil i ml i nil i ml i nil i nil i ml i i Chem., 82/2 (1984) 379 17. F.DE CORTE, S.JOVANOVIC, A.SIMONITS, L.MOENS, J.HOSTE, Atomkernenergie, lll| I ni| i ni| I illj i ni| i in; i ni| I ni| I nijg Kerntechniek 44 (1984) 641. 18. A.SIMONITS, L.MOENS, F.DE CORTE, A.DE WISPELAERE. A.ELEK, J.HOSTE. J.Radioanal. Chem., 6o (198o) 461. i ml i ml i ml i ml i nil 19. L.MOENS, F.DE CORTE, A.DE WISPELAERE, J.HOSTE. A.SIMONITS, A.ELEK. i ml i nil i nil i ml i nil i ml i niu E.SZABO, J.Radioanal. Chem., 82/2 (1984) 385. 2.0-10^- i ni| t MI( i ni| i in; i ni| i ni| i ni[ •! iiij i ni| i iiij i ii 1.0-10 20. S.JOVANOVIC et.al., to be submitted 21. A.SIMONITS, S.JOVANOVIC, F.DE CORTE, L.MOENS, J.HOSTE, J.Radioanal. Chem., 82/1 (1984) 169. 22. S.JOVANOVIC, F.DE CORTE., A.SIMONITS, J.HOSTE, Submitted to J.Radioanal. Nucl.Chem. "I i ml i ml i ml i ml i ml i ml i ml i .ml i ml \ i pH 5 1.0-10' 0010 .010 .10 1.0 10.0 100. 1.0-103 I.0-I05 2.0-10" E (eV)

Fig.l. Cross-section functions for elastic scattering of some light nuclei used as moderators -3 6 10 10 10* 10 EleV)

Fig.Z. The epithermal neutron spectrum deviation : 1/E 25

THE NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS IN THE STUDY OP LANGMUIR- BLODGETT MULTILAYERS COMPOSITION - RELATION TO OTHER METHODS OS INVESTIGATION J.G.Petrov, I.Kuleff Faculty of Chemistry, University of Sofia, 1, Anton Ivanov ave., 1126 Sofia, Bulgaria Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers are molecular structures built up in a con- trolled manner by means of irreversible transfer of monolayers of insoluble and non-volatile organic compounds from a liquid/gas onto a solid/gas interface/1,2/. These lamellar systems are used as gratings for soft X-rays, ion selective mem- branes, mioroeleotronic gas sensors, electroluminescence panels, tunnelling de- vices, etc /3/. The controlled distance between the functional groups has been utilized in many fundamental studies dealing with energy transfer, light inter- ference effects and other optical and electrooptleal phenomena /4/.Incorporation of enzymes, proteins and antibodies in such assemblies models different biolo- gical systems and enables the investigation of enzyme - substrate and immunolo- gical reactions. Long chain fatty acids and their bivalent soaps are commonly used to build up multilayers of good quality /2/. Recently long chain ammonium salts have been also successfully applied /5,6/. These compounds ca2 n be 2irreversiblz+ y transferre2 d only if the aqueous subsolutians contain Cd2+,9Ca , Ba , Cu or Pb * (in the case of fatty acids) and HPO. , HAsO.2-, CrO^" or S0.2- (when long chain amines are used). The above counter ions play 5 decisive role also in the struct- ure and stability of the systems created /7/. For this reason an investigation of the counterions bonded in multilayers of ionic surfactants proves Important for the understanding of the mechanism of their formation and for finding the factors which determine their structure and stability. In /8-11/ we have performed neutron-activation analysis of the composition of several LB Bystems making use of the high sensitivity of the method as well as of the fact that these samples are rather appropriate for ItB application. The present,paper compares the features of this method with those of other analytical techniques used in the study of LB multylayerB, pointing out the a

«o nfoft0l}id ?e al+° Btressed *£a* NAA Provides information about the total amouna U t of the Belements analysed, being unable to distinguish their valenFlifaW ,,. *tdlOm!tf1C/?alva''R f™A * The h1^ sensitivity which can be IcMevef by detection of ionizing radiations enables the reliable application of the radio metric analysis in the study of the multilayer stoichiomitry. UnLrtuSfely the tagging technique was used for this purpose on a limited scale (^Ca^In dea- rie acid multilayers /13/) regardless of the fact that all the elements of in! terest (except for Mg) have appropriate radionuclides. May be this is due to the obstacles by the absolute radioactivity measurements and/or to the necessity ex- periments with great amounts of radioactive solutions to be carried out. These obstacles can be avoided by standartizing the radioactivity measurements and de- termining the specific rate of counting (the rate of counting per unit of mass) /14/« An increase of the measurement efficiency through reduction of the area of counting without diminishing the radiation intensity can be achieved by means of the detachment technique proposed in /8/. The difficulties due to self absorp- tion which arise in this cage can bgoCorrected /15/ or the measurements of the pure /?-emittance of -^S, 45Ca and •>*? can be performed witl. liquid scintilla- tion counting /16/. Some competitive ionic reactions might also be studied by means of RMA when gamma speotrometry is used. In the case of Ca it is possible to work with T'Ca but S and P do not offer any convenient radioactive isotopes. The tagging compounds are commercially available /17/ or can be obtained by irradiation with neutrons of appropriate targets in a nuclear reactor /18/. It should be mentioned, however, that the radionuclide and the stable ion can differ in their chemical forms in solution /19/. This is to be expected particu- larly when inorganic anions are analysed in multilayers of cationic surfactants. Spectrophotometrv (SPh/r A spectrophotometric determination of Cd2+ in multilayers of aracnidic acid was carried out in /20/. The multilayer was remo- ved from the glass substrate by treatment with saturated solution of HC1 in chloroform and Cd2+ was determined as a diphenylthiocarbazone complex. By means of the same removal procedure other counterions can be analysed if stable enough complexes with high extinction coefficients can be formed in chloroform media. Thus 5-Br-pyridylazo-diethyl aminophenol (5-Br-PADAP) can be applied for the determination of heavy metalB (CU2+, Zn2+, Pb2+, Ba2+) since it gives stable red complexes with £ * 10?, IR-Speqtroscopy (IRS): This is a nondestructive method providing a detail- ed information about the organic constituent of the multilayers. In the systems built up of long chain ammonium salts it can also detect the inorganic anions (if they have individual vibrational frequences /21/) identifying their valent form. When multilayers of fatty acid soapB are studied, the binding of the in- organic cations is determined Indirectly, analysing the ratio of the absorban- ces of the dissociated (1583 cm"1) to non-dissociated (1710 cm"1) carboxylic groups /22/. In addition to the ab.ove information, the IR-spectra furnish evidence for basic salt formation (peaks of the OH group at 3340 and 3715 cm"1 /22,23/, oo- ordinative binding of the metal ions (the specific shape of the bands above 1500 cm-1 /24/), hydrogen bonds (broadening of the bands and shift of Vmax t° lower frequences /21/), hydration water (a split carboxyl peak at 1580 and 1540 cm-1 /23/), etc. Sometimes polarized IR radiation is applied /25/ in order to study the structure of the multilayers. Infrared dichroism was also measured in /26/. It enables a eonformational analysis of L- aC.-dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl- ethanolamine multilayers to be performed. Earlier studies utilized transmission IR-speotroscopy of multilayers depo- sited on CaF2, AgCl or ZnS substrates (250-300 monolayers on each side). Now- adays the ATR technique makes it possible to obtain measurable absorbance from severalll/27l monolayers only /d(/./ ,„.„.» _. . - . .„.„ Electron Spectroscopy for Ohemical Analysis (ESCA); Except for hydrogen, all the elements may be identified by this method /SJB/. Although the absolute sensitivity of the method is very high (-1 - 10 ng for most elements), the relative content in the sample is usually determined. Since the emitted elec- trons are easily stopped, ESGA provides information about the last few mono- layers of the LB system (of thickness < 100 I/. This helps to avoid the influ- ence of the subetra-te and to obtain a "pure" signal after the Jepositxon of several monolayers only but diminishes the relative accuracy of Jft£ method. The ESCA spectra give the composition, valent state and binding ene^ies of the atoms in the multilayer. When they are recorded at low angles << 3U ; defectB in the multilayers structure can be identified /2y/. 27

i:SCA was applied to IB multilayers in several studies which made use of their definite thickness to standartize the method /30/ and for some fundamental in- vestigations of electron wave lengths in metals and polymers /29,31/. The stoi- chiometry of the Cd arachidate multilayers used was also determined from the in- tensity ratios on C(1S), 0(1S) and Cd(3d) levels. The shifts of the C(1S) elec- tron energies in CH2, COOH and COO- were used to obtain the degree of ionization of the earboxyl group. The application of ESCA to LB systems requires special care to be taken of their possible "skeletonization" (evaporation of the fatty acid molecules) in vacuum /32/. This effect changes the ratio fatty acid/bivalent soap, resp. the stoichiometric relationship in the multilayer, OTHER POSSIBILITIES There are some other unemployed possibilities for the accurate determina- tion of the inorganic components of the IS systems. These components (except for P and S) are among the 30 elements which are particularly appropriate to be ana- lysed by means of the Atomic Absorption Spectrometry /33/. The practical appli- cation of this method reouires a quantitative dissolution of the multilayers. This procedure can be performed if the latters are deposited onto a glass sup- port covered with a polystyrene foil. As described in /8/f this foil can be easily detached and transferred into a small (10 ml) volumetric flask with an appropriate solvent (xylene, methylisobutyllcetone, hexone). The Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) has the main advantage of NAA (possibility for the simultaneous determination of several elements) at a still higher, by an order of magnitude, sensitivity (Tab- le l)/34/. The determination is very quick and efficient, allowing all the inor- ganic ions in the multilayers to be analysed. Here also the dissolution proce- dure recommended for the application of AAS should be performed. COMPARISON OP THE METHODS IR-spectroscopy has been most often applied in the investigation of LB multilayers probably due to the fact that besides the stoichiometry many other problems can be solved by its use. When multilayers of long chain ammonium salts are studied, IRS provides information both for the organic and inorganic compo- nents, giving also the valent states of the latters. If however an accurate de- termination of the multilayers eornpo-sition is •ainreu, additional- anelyBie of-the counterions should be performed. The parallel application of another analytical technique is obligatory when IRS is applied to fatty acid multilayers. In this case the IR spectra indicate the organic molecules only and an independent investigation of the content of in- organic cations proves necessary. NAA, ICP-AES, AAS and RMA possess very high sensitivities and following the practical recommendations given above they can be applied successfully for this purpose. The first two methodB are to be prefer- red when multicomponent (with respect to the counterions) systems are studied and AAS and RMA are convenient if individual elements are determined. In some cases spectrophotometry, which can be applied without special instrumentation and qualification, gives also accurate results. The possibility to analyse both the organic and inorganic components of the multilayers makes ESCA suitable for their complex investigation, providing that thev are not affeoted by the vacuum treatment. However, the stopping of the emitted electrons by their passage through 3-4 monolayers only restricts the amount of the analysed material and strongly decreases the «»curaer of the stoi- chiometric determination. For this reason the most important information yielded by this method concerns the binding energies of the atoms in the LB system. Summarizing all above statements, a conclusion can be drawn that if the structure of thi multilayers, their stability, the molecular interactions orthe binding energies of the elements are to be studied, IRS and ESCA methods should be applied, for a plausible determination of the multilayers composition, how- ever* the inorganic content should be analysed accurately by means of one of the

and 1:2 for mono- and bivalent counterions. 28

'Jafrle I

Element NAA /35/ RMA AAS /33/ ICP-AES /34/ Ba 80 ng (++) Ba-131 (++) 8 ng/ml (+++) 1 n<*/E'l (+++)" 1 0.37 Ba 6 18 1 Ca 120 ng (+) Ca-45 (++) 0.5 ng/ml(+++) 1.6 ng/ml (+++) 90 1 0.04 Ba 2 5 Cd 6 ng (+++) Cd-115m (++) 1 ng/ml (+++) 0.06 ng/ml(+++) 2 1 0.02 Ba 1 Cu 0.04 ng (+++) Cu-64 (+) 2 ng/ml (++) 1 ng/ml (++) 1 1 0.42 Bo 4 2 K 50 ng (++) K-42 (+) 2 ng/rol (+++) 1.5 ng/ml (+++) 38 1 0.44 Ba 6 4 Mg 12 ng (+) - 0.1 ng/ml(+++) 1.5 ng/ml (++) 15 1 7 Na 0.08 ng (+++) Na-24 (+) 0.2 ng/ml(+++) 7 ng/ml (++) 1 1 0.64 Ba 1 33 Pb 14000 ng (-) Pb-210 (++) 10 ng/ml (+++) 2 ng/ml (+++) 2000 1 5.73 Bq 6 1 • Zn 1 ng (+++) Zn-65 (++) 1 ng/ml (++) 0.2 ng/ml (++) 1 1 0.61 Ba 2 1 As 0.03 ng (+++) As-76 (++) 0.2 ng/ml(++) 3 ng/ml (++) 1 1 0.40 Bq 1 5 8 ng (+++) Cr-51 (++) 3 ng/ml (++) C.4 ng/ial (++) Cr 5 1 0.68 Bq 6 1 0.5 ng (+++) P_32 (++) 1.106ng/ml (-) ^ng/g <++) P 1 1 0.43 Ba 580 S 16000 ng (-) S-35 (+++) - 0.2 ng/c (+++) 15000 1 0.48 Bq 1 (+) measure of the applicability of the method. REFERENCES hi K.B.Blodgett, I.Langmuir, Phys.Rev.,51 (1937)964 ; /2/V.IC.Srivastava, Physics of Thin Films,7(1973)340; /3/G.G.Roberts, P.S.Vinsett.Y'.A.Barlow.Phys.Technol., 12(1981)69; /4/H.Kuhn,D.I,Sbius,H.BUcher,Physical Methods of Chemistry,Pert III, A.V;eisBberger,B.V/.Rossiter(Eds.),V/iley-Intersci.,NY,1972; /5/J.G,Petrov,H.lloseow, 1963$ /20/J.G. Petrov,H.Kuhn,D.Hbbius,J.Coll.Int.Sci.,73(1980)66; /21/D.Vollhaxdt,K.Vuttig,J.&. Petrov,G.Malewski,J.Coll.Int.Sci.,in press; /22/J.V,'.ElliB,J.L.Pauley,J.Coll.Sci. 19(1964)755; /23/J.Bagg,M.Abramson,M.Fichman,M.Haber,H.Gregor,J.Amer.Cheai.Soc., 86(1964)2759; /24/P.Fromherz in "Regular 2D-Arrays of Biomacromolecules",V.'.Bau- meister(Ed.)Springer Verlag,Berlin, 1980; /25/T.Takenaka,K.Nogami,H.Gotoh,ll.Gotoh J.Coll.Int.Sci.,35(1971)395; /^6/H.Akutsu,Y.Kyogoku,H.Hakahara,K.Fulcuda,0hem.& Phys.Lipids,15(1975)222; /27/L.H.Sharpe,Instrument News,15(1965)9; /z*/G-ft;™e- ner,V/.M.Riggs,L.E.Davis,J,F.MoulderfG.E.Muilenberg(Ed. Handbook of X-ray Photo-

Chim.Scand.120(1966)2880; /31/T.0hniski,A.Ishin,, mura.J.Phys.Chem. ,82(1978)1989; /32/S.J.Gregg,E.E.Widdowson.Kature,144(1939)666 /33/J.navezov,D.Zalev,Atomic Absorption Analysis, Nauka i Izkustvo,Sofia,1980; G.E.Kirkbright in"Elemental Analysis of Biological Materials,IAEA,Vienna,19B0, p. 141; /34/V/.J.Haas,V.A.FasBel,i"bid. p. 167; /35/V.P.Guinn,ibid. p. 105; /36/L.A. Currie,Anal.Chem.,40(1968)586. 29

JJUJTROH AOTHTATIOH AHALYBI8 OF SIMTOOBDUOTOR SILICON 8* Apostolescu, Ana Pantelica, Maria S&lagean Institute for Physios and Nuclear Inglneerlng Bucharest WS-6, Romania Abstraoti 8oaw romanian semiconductor grade ailicon elides were analysed by IHAA. Surface and volume contaminations of the samples nave been studied. IHfRCDUOflON The analysis of impurity oontenta in semiconductor materials is an impor- tant problem since it ia known that small quantities of these impurities oan drastically change their mechanical and eleotrlcal properties, IXFBRXIBNTAL Many samples of semiconductor silicon slides of various types and diffe- rent proveniences have been analysed. She analysis of only four romanian semi- conductor silicon samples produced by the Institute for Research and Produc- tion of Semiconductor Materials is presented in this paper. She samples of n or p types materials having the resistivities between 40-ft-on and 1.4 Eftem were irradiated for 40 hours in a 1.4zl01?n/om2.s. flux. Before the irradia- tion the silicon slides were very oleaned and washed. A solution of 0.105 ug of Au and Soll-5 were used as standards. After 4-5 days ooollng time the measurements have been carried out by using a Ge(UL) deteotor with 2 keV reso- lution coupled to a multichannel analyser. A gamma spectrum of the sample nr.3 measured for 2 hours after 4 days deoay time is shown in figure 1. R1SULTS ADD DISOUSSIGH As, Au, Br, Oo, Or, Ga. Ef, Mo, Ha, 8b, Zn, ff elements were found out. from another epeotrum of this sample, Ye oould also be measured. Besides the elements before mentioned, Bo end-Hi arc present in some of the samples. The results expressed in lO^atoms/onF are given in table 1. fhe samples labeled 4 and 5 are the same type of semloonduotor silioon, the difference consisting only in the way the samples have been treated prior to the irradiation. Number 4 was very well washed in deionlsed water while number 5 was et- phed in a 3 i 1 i 1 mixture of acids (010., HF, 0H.0OOH, respectively). All the other samples were etched in the abovf mlxiure'of aoids. She impurity con- tents are smaller in the sample 5 as compared to the number 4 as oan be seen. After these first measurements the samples have been ctohed for 5 minutes in a 5 i 3 I 3 mixture of aoids (HHOx, HF, OHzOOOH, respectively) and very thorougly washed in a shower of water. Measurements of 5 - 6 hours have been oarried out for eaoh sample, fhe concentration of the elements present into the volume of the samples is presented in table 2, Results are expressed In ppb. A study of the variation of some element contents with suoceslve etchings of the samples after irradiation, is also presented in tabel 3. For this study the two samples namely 4 and 5 were ohosen, I.e. the same type of silioon pre- pared in different ways before irradiation, fhe results are expressed in 1012 atoms. She Buocesive etchings of 2 minutes in a 5 i 3 i 3 mixture of aoids were oarried out. After the first etching a high decreasing of the element contents oan be observed. A surface contamination of the silioon slides during outting, polishing, washing and handling before and after their irradiation oan be oonoluded. After the second etching, element oontents decreased In a variable ratio In 1 - 4 region while the third etching reveals that the sample elemental con- tents remains oonstant suggesting no further surface contamination. A high content of the elements on the surface of the semloonduotor sili- oon slides does Indeed exist. An etching of 5 minutes after the sample Irradia- tion In a 5 i 3 » 3 mixture of aoids reveals only the volume contamination of silicon semiconductor slides. TABU 1 - Slemental oontent (lO^atome/om2)

0 1 2 3 4 5 AS 0.08+0.02 0.12+0.04 0.08+0.03 0.5+0.1 AU 0.0280+0*0006 0.0150+0.0003 0.0110+0.0002 32.1+0.4 0.243+0.005 30

0 1 2 3 4 5

Br - 1.63+0,09 1.57+0.09 _ „ Go 0.7+0.1 0.9+0.1 1.3+0.* 9.3+1.6 1.1+0.7 Or 7.3+0.9 3*6+0.6 3.5+0.6 - - v« 80+40 67*60 132+65 - - Ga - 1.4+0.4 0.6+0.3 0.06+0.01 0.07+0.02 Hf 1.5+0.1 - 0.03+0.01 - - Ho 0.49+0.05 0.82+0.08 0.62+0.01 14.1+3.5 2.2+0.7 Ha 218+25 148+18 170+21 827+21 117+4 Hi 12+2 - - 23+13 - 8b 0.024+0.006 0.031+0.006 O.O15+O.OO3 0.21+0.06 - Bo 0.050+0.005 - - - - Zn 17+3 40+7 47+6 194+92 - W 0.44+0.07 1.0+0.2 1.8+0.3 26.2+0.3 4.8+0.1

q»A?Tl 2 - llemental concentration (ppb)

Saapl* in Mo ffa W

1 0.051+0.004 2 0.005+0.,002 - - - 3 0.003+0,,001 - - - 4 0.0032+0..0003 0.03+0.01 0,49+0.07 0.013+0.003 5 O.OO29+O.OOO2 O.O5+O.O2 0.50+0.02 -

TABU 3 - Variation of aoiu element oontenta (10 atoms) with auooealve etohinge of the aaaplaa after irradiation Sample 4

•lament Xton-etohing Piret etching Second etching Third etolling

Au 32.1+0.4 0.0229+0.0006 0.0050+.0.OOO4 0. 0038+0.0004 Ifo 14.1+3.4 0.103+0.069 0.0589+0.0466 0. 0685+0.0342 Ha 827+21 6.5+9.B 5.91+0.73 5.1+0.7 w 26.2+0.3 0.024+0.005 0.0139+0.0038 0. 0163+0.0050

Sample 5 Element Non-etohing First etching Second etohing IMrd etching

Au 0.24+0.01 0.00666+0.00053 0. 00243+0.00032 0.0030+0.0002 Ho. 2.2+0.7 0.286+0.066 0.108+0.053 0.1172+0.0486 Ha 117+9 5.27+0.64 4.79*0.54 4.52+0.72 W 4.8+0.1 0.O055+O.OO19 0. 00286+0.00137 — COUNTS / CHANNEL

"mTc(Mol 206 187W

221 82Br

198'Au

479

m z m 685187W a? o

77682Br

828 82Br 834 72Oa

-1044828r

1115 65Zn r 1173 60Co

J31782Br ^—1332 60r.o

• 1368 32

DETERMINATION OF SOME TRhCE ELEMENTS IN BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS USING THE SHORT LIVED ISOTOPES

E.Taskaev Institute of Nuclear Research & Nuclear Energy, boul.Lenin No 72, Sofia - 11B4

Studying the trace elements in biology the necessity of vanadium determination often arise (1,2). Its instrumental determination is practically impossible uith acceptable accuracy in most of the cases. Radio- chemical separation is necessary. Some good procedures for vanadium determi- nation uere proposed (2-5) and the one from Byrne and Kosta (2) was chosen. Determination of some other biologically active elements together uith V is of interest too. Preparing the sample for analysis and analyzing it for vanadium, the analyst does the majior part of the uork. So, it is uorthuhile to do some more separation procedures and get additional information. Radiochemical procedure uas even preferable as the errors of instrumental determination for these elements (e.g. Cu, fin, Flo etc.) are often bigger than their concen- tration changes in the organs due to bioprocesses. It uas decided to continue the processing of the sample and to separate Cu, fin, Rb and K. Molibdenum uas isolated together uith vanadium, and consecutive extraction uas used for Cu and fin diethy1-dithiocarbamate complexes (6,7) . Sodium tetraphenylborate (Kalignost) uas used for the precipitation of Rb and K (B) . Standard reference materials SRM-1577 Bovine Liver, SRM-1571 Orchard Leaves and Bouen's Kale were analysed, and the procedure uas used for the analysis of breast cancer tumors.

EXPERIMENTAL

Irradiation. Samples' tablets about 300 mg Bach were irradiated uith ICIS pneumatic sample irradiation system of University of London Reactor Centre (Ascot, GB) . Irradiation time uas 5 min. Irradiation uas carried out in mixed neutron flux: 1.7»1012 thermal neutrons.cm-2.s~1 and 9• 1D11 fast neutrons.om~^.s~'' (9). Samples reached the radiochemical laboratory by pneumotube immediatly after irradiation. Dissolution. Uet ashing procedure (2) uas usBd for the dissolution. Cnly some differences from (2) uill be mentioned. Carriers for all separated elements uere put into Kjeldahl flask before dissolution as usualy: V - 400 jjg, Mo - 600 ug, Cu - 3 mg and Rb - 10 mg. 54-Rn and 137-Cs tracers uere added for chemical yield determination. The solution uas dried before sample and acids uere added to the flask. Solution of KMnO4 used in dissolution procedure uas at the same time the carrier for fin and K. The extraction of M, Mo, Cu and fin uas carried out in siple and effective extractor, fig.1. Since V uas separated together uith flo, GeLi and multichannel analyser uere used. The contents of the other BlemBnts uere much higher than the M content and GeLi uas effective enough for counting all of them. Samples and standards uere counted in 25 ml volume flasks, except V and Mo for which 10 ml flasks uere USBC). Separation of \l and flo. Vanadium and molib- denum uere extracted uith 0.1% N-benzoyl-N- phenylhydroxylamina (BPHA) solution in toluene (2). Organic phase uas counted for 500s and 52-V ( Ti/2=3.75 min Ey=1434 kev) uas measured, then it uas counted again for 600s and 101-Mo Fig.1. Extractor ( T1./2=14.6 min E^=192 kev) uas measured. The chemical yields ware controled by irradiation of 0.5 ml aliquotes of organic phases. Separation of Cu. The pH of the aqueous phase uas adjusted at 5 uith NaOH. Copper uas extracted uith tuo 10 ml portions of 3.5* 10—^TO solution of Pb(DDC)2 in CHCI3. Extracts uere gathered, uashed and counted. 511 kev of 64-Cu uas used for thB computation. Counting time uas 5 min. Chemical yield uas controled by irradiation of aliquotes. Separation of fin. About 200 mg of NaDDC uere added to the extractor 33

and manganese uas extracted with tuo 10 ml portions of CHCI3. Extracts uere gathered, uashed and counted for 5 min. 846 kev line of 56-Mn uas used for the determination. 54-Mn activity uas measured for 900s and B34 kev peak uas used for the calculation of chemical yield after decay of 56-Mn. Separation of K and Rb. The water phase left- uas transfered in glass beaker and 20 ml of 0.10 sodium tetraphsnylborate (Kalignost) solution uere added to precipitate K and Rb. The solubility of KB(C6H5)4 and RbB(CfiH5)4 could be lessened by decreasing the temperature of the solution using the ice bath and uith the surplus of precipitant. The precipitate uas filtrated and uashed uith cold 0.011*1 Kalignost solution. Then it uas dissolved in ace- tone and transfered into the flask for measurement. Both lines of 88—Rh ( T1/2=17.B min) B98 ke\» and 1836 kev were used for the analysis. After decay of 88-Rb samples uere counted once mote for 600s and 1.524 kev line of 4 2-K and 661 kev line of 137-Cs uere measured. Chemical solutions uere used as comparative standards for all listed elements.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The trace experiments uere carried out uith animal and plant matrixes, in order to study the chemical yields for all the elements. The error of 3% (0.05 confidence level) for single determination of chemical yield uas chosen as the highest value accatable. Houever, this value uas not reached for any of the elements. It should be noticed that the yields in case of plant matrix uere constantly louer (exept for Rh and K) than for the animal one. The louest value uas obtained for Mo (88.7*9.8 %). So, it uas decided to control the chemical yields in each case. Since the irradiation of organic aliquotes uas chosen for W, Wo and Cu yield determination, the content of these elements in the sample should be taken into account. The quantity of carriers corresponded uith the content of the element in the sample. It uas necessary to increase the amount of Cu carrier, for example, up to 3 mg because the Cu content in the sample could be high (e.g. up to hundreds ppm). The possibility of using 137-Cs tracer for K and Rb chemical yield deter- mination uas also checked. The solubility of KB(Ph)^ uas about 4 times higher than the one of CsB(Ph)4 (B), but in BXCBSS of NaB(Ph)4 and louered tempera- ture of the solution less than 0.1$ of initial potassium could be found in the solution. That alloued to use the 137-Cs tracer to control the K chemical yield. That uas even more applicable to Rb. Special attention had to be paied to the chemical standards. They gave the possibility to get lou counting statistic error (belou "\%), but on the other hand they could aluays cause sistematic errors (9) . The standards uere treated in the simplest way. Polythene capsule uith dried irradiated standard uas treated in glass beaker uith appropriate mixture (usually strong acids).

Table 1. Results from 6 independed determination for 5RM (in ppm). SRM-1577 Bovine LivBr SRM-1571 Orchard Leaves] Bouen* s Kale EL this uork I raf.(H) this uork ref.(i2) this uork i ref.(iO) x±2«SD I x± 2«SD x± 2«SD I V 0.051*0.009 0.05861. 0.41110.038 0.471 ].3640.05 0.37640.013(2) 0.0016(2) 0.01.4(2) 0.3610.04(10) rio 2.7±0.6 3.4(11) 0.2240.05 0.310.1 2.210.6 2.3010.21 Cu 1B7*12 193*10 12.510.7 12*1 4.99*032 4.9010.42 fin 9.7*0.6 10.3t1D 93*6 91*4 1.3.9+0.9 15.0*1.2 Rb 17.9*2.1 18.3*1.0 11.241.3 12*1 55.216.4 52.0*5.2 K 9400*1000 9700*600 14200+660 14700*300 245004970 24300*120

Active solution uas quantitatively transfered to the volume flask for counting. The capsule uas checked for the activity left. To check the uhole procedure thB standard reference materials SRFI-1577 Bovine Liver, SRM-1571 Orchard Leaves and Bouen's Kale uere analyzed. Results are shoun in Table 1. Breast cancer tumors had been analyzed using the discribed procedure. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author thanks Dr. N.Spyrou for most useful discussions, the Univer- sity of London Reactor Centre staff for their assistance and The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, for financial support* 34

REFERENCE

1. Bengtsson S. and G.Tyler, MARC Technical Report, (1976) 2. Byrne A.R., L.Kosta, 3 .Radioanal. ChenT., 44 (197B)247 3. Heydorn K.,H.R.Luken3, Risö Report, 13B (1966) 4. Kaiser D.G., U.U.Weinke, Anal.Chim.Acta 29 (1973) 211 5. Steinnes E., IAEA Tachn.Report 157, Vienna (1973) p 149 6. Bajo S. and A.Uyttenbach, Anal.Chem., V48 No6 (1976) 902 7. Shen L.H. and S.J.Yeh, J.M.Lo, Anal.Chem. V52 No12 (l980) 1S82 8. Plusheu U.E., B.D.Stepin, "Analytical Chemistry of Rb and Cs", Nauka (1975) Moscou, pp 59-61 ( in russion ) 9. Burholt G.D., "The University of London Reactor", ULRC/OPS/4 10. Parr R.M., IAEA/RL/103, Sept.1983 11. Certificate of Analysis, National Bureau of Standards, SRPl-1577,reu. 1977 12. Certificate of Analysis, National Bureau of Standards, SRM-1571,reu.1977 35

Se IN BIOLOGICAL SRM's: A COMPARISON OF RESULTS OBTAINED BY DIFFERENT NEUTRON ACTIVATION METHODS

M.Dermelj, A.Gosar, M.Franko, A.R.Byrne, L.Kosta, P.Stegnar Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology and "J.Stefan" Institute, "E.Kardelj" University Ljubljana, 61000 Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

INTRODUCTION wi the basis of various studies and research, since I960 selenium has been included among the micronutritients considered essential for living organisms III. Currently, intensive research is being carried out to elucidate its role in enzymatic processes, its nutritional importance, its antagonistic interactions with other elements.as well as its toxicology. ' Thus there is an important need for developing rapid and sensitive analytical methods for Se which give accurate and reproducible results in a variety of biological materials. In this work we present and compare results for selenium obtained in various IAEA and NBS biological standard reference materials obtained by instrumental neutron activation ana- lysis (INAA) and different radiochemical neutron activation methods (RNAA) developed in our laboratory. EXPERIMENTAL 1. Irradiation: lyophilized and homogenized samples were irradiated in plastic or silica tubes, together with a selenium standard, in the rotating rack of the 1 2 1 Institute is Triga Mark II reactor at a flux of 2.10 2n.cm- s- for 20-40 hours. 2. INAA: The V-activity of the '5se isotope, T1/2 = 120d; E^= 0.121, 0.136, 0.264, 0.279 and 0.401 MeV, was measured on a Ge-Li detector (efficiency 17%, resolution 1.0 KeV for 60co) connected to a Canberra 80 4000 channel analyser. The 0.13b and 0.264 MeV peaks were both used for calculation. 3. RNAA: For radiochemical determination of selenium in various biological samples the following methods, developed in our laboratory can be used: a) pyrolysis of the sample, volatilization, trapping on soda lime 121 b) wet destruction (H2SO4, HNO3 and H2O2) or oxygen combustion of the sample, extraction of Se(IV) carbamate into toluene or CCI14 111. c) destruction of the sample with saturated Mg(N03)2, reduction of Se(VI) to Se(IV) with 6M HC1, reaction of Se(IV) witfi S-nitro-o-phenylene diamine (4-NDP) and extraction of the resulting piazselenol with toluene or CCI4 /4/. The if-activity of the 75& isotope in samples and standards was measured on a "3x3" well-type Nal(Tl) detector connected to a 400 channel analyser, and the area of 0.400 MsV sum peak used for calculation. The chemical yield which is about 85-90% was determined either on the basis of tracer experiments, or by a short reactivation of the organic phase (toluene) using the short-lived selenium isotope °lmse (T1/2 = 57 min; E^ = 0.103 MeV).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The best means of achieving accuracy in trace element analysis is to apply the methods developed in the laboratory to the analysis of SRMts and to compare the results obtained with the certified values. From the results obtained for Se in different IAEA and NBS standard reference materials, presented in the attached table, all the methods developed in our laboratory show good repro- ducibility and give good agreement with certified values. The advantage of 4-NDP method is that, unlike the other techniques, it can be applied after only 1-2 days "cooling" of the sample, and also can be combined with solvent extraction of other trace elements. REFERENCES III E.J.Underwood: "Trace Elements in Human and Animal Nutrition". 4tnEd.,AP, New York 1977. 121 A.R.Byrne, L.Kbsta: Talanta, 21 (1974) IO83. Ill H.Polkowska-Nbtrenko, M.Dermelj, A.R.Byrne, A.Fajgelj, P.Stegnar, L.Kosta: Radiochem. Radioanal.Letters, 53 (1982) 319. /4/ M.Dermelj, A.Gosar, M.Franko, L.Kosta (in preparation for press). 36

Table I. Comparison results for Se in Reference Materials (in

Methods and techniques Certified SAMPLE R N A A INAA values or wet oxygen range pyrolysis destruction combustion 4-NDP IAEA MAA-1 3.16*0.20 3.80*0.40 3.25*0.19 _ _ - Copepod homogenate (n=6) (n=12) (n=7) IAEA MAM-1 2 .36*0.25 2.24±0.29 2.32*0.21 - - m = 2.1 Oyster homogenate (n=6) (n=7) (n=3) r = 0.05-2.82 IAEA MAM-2 1.94*0.11 _ 1.63*0.23 2.08*0.14 - Missels (n=5) (n=9) (n=10) IAEA MAA-2 1.08*0.07 0.98*0.04 _ _ Fish muscle (n=6) (n=10) IAEA H-8 4.87^0.56 _ 4 36±O 24 _ 4.67*O.96x Horse kidney (n=6) (n=6)' NBS SRM 1567 0.650*0.073 0.705*0.065 0.779*0.065 1.1*0.2 Wheat Flour (n=5) (n=l8) (n=8) . NBS SRM 1577 1.11*0.05 1.06*0.11 1 10*0 13 1.00*0.07 1.13*0.04 1.1*0.1 Bovine Liver (n=6) (n=ll) "(nz5) (n=10) (nz5) Note: m = median r r range x = overall mean 37

14 MeV PHOTON ACTIVATION FOB PROTEIN ANALYSIS IN CEREALS B. Oonstantinescu, B. Ivanov, D. Plostinaru, A. Popa-Nemoiu G. Paseovioi Institute for Physios and Nuclear Enginearing Bucharest MG-6, Romania INTRODUCTION The nutritional value for the agricultural products is mainly characte- rised by their total protein content* Nitrogen tc protein content in cereals is related by a 6*25 conversion factor* Thus nitrogen determination in cereals is equivalent to protein analysis. The olassioal nitrogen analysis method is the Kjeldahl chemical technique, which ia time-consuming, destructive and not suitable for a large number of samples* A fast nuolear nondestructive method for protein analysis using the 14 MeV proton activation to measure total nitrogen content through the reaction* 14N (p,n) 140 (Tj^ = 71 a) has been developed in our laboratory* The 14-0 activity is detected by means of its characteristic 2.312 MeV gamma-ray line with a Nal(Tl) detector* She number of gamma-rays to the inci- dent particles ratio for one sample, related to a similar ratio for the adequa- te standards helpj to determine the nitrogen content in that sample. EXPERIMENTAL A beam of 14 MeV protons, produoed by the IHPK U-120 variable-energy fixed- frequency Cyclotron passes through a 50 nm aluminum foil window into the air* Directly behind the window, the irradiation chamber is located, acting also as a Faraday oup* She effective irradiated and analysed mass of the grain is deter- mined by the difference in range of the protons at 14 MeV and at the reaction threshold (^ 6.4 MeV) and amounts to ~ 0*2 g/em2 (1.4 mm for wheat and barley, 1*2 - 1*? mm for corn and soya - beans)* The proton beam hitting the sample (100 + 10 nA) is measured by the charge collected on the Faraday cup. A grain sample to be analysed is first put into a disposable aluminum con- tainer approximately 25 mm in diameter and 22 mm in length* For a fast determination samples in a large number the automation of the operations was necessary* A mechanized system able to analyse samples at a rate of one per minute (see Fig.l) has been developed* She sample 1B gravitationally transported from the magazine to the irradiation area in 3 s., it is irradiated in 27 B.i transported again gravitationally to the counter in 3 s., measured 1A 27 s. and finally gravitationally transported to a lead screened box. The labo- ratory electronics presented in Pig.2,a Multichannel Analyser (MOA) Nuclear Data, a PDP-8 computer and an electronic module controller - control the entire opera- tion* The MOA is working in the HOS mode (Multichannel Scaling Experiment)! In one channel the charge information is stored, and in the nejtt channel the gamma- ray intensity indicator* The electronic module controller acts on the mechanical transport system for the samples and also on the beam pulsing chopper (27 s. ir- radiation, 33 s. pause for the measurement and sample transport - see Fig*3> After irradiation, the sample is transported to a scintillation counter with a 10*16 cm diameter x 10*16 cm thick Nal(Tl) crystal* The counter la shiel- ded toward the sample by a 25 mm lead layer in order to reduoe dead time losses from the high 0*511 MeV gamma-ray activity* Finally* the PDP-8 computer calculates the ratio of the number of gBJuw- ray counts and of the integrated beam oharge and multiplies the result by a pre- determined normalizing faotor (the total protein oontent of a grain standard; to obtain the total protein oontent of the sample* This result is typed out. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Several thousands of samples (wheat, corn, barley, bean and soya-bean) have been analysed with this nuolear method* Good odfcelation has been obtained be - tween the results of the Kjeldahl method and our nuolear determinations for sam- ples of various cereal grains (see Vig*4). A problem is the analysis of the whole protein region in a seed. Thus, for wheat and barley seeds the region of maximum protein concentration is 0*2 - 0*6 mm in depth /l#2,3/j in corn and soya-bean seeds this region is thicker (0*2 - 2 mm)* The effective irradiated and analysed mass is about 0*2 g/cnr (1*2 - 1*4 mm), very suitable for wheat and barley* To realise an acourate measurement for corn and aoya-bean, flour should be used to obtain a protein homogeneous sample* In this oase, the irradiation dose for a sample is about 33.000 Qy, mainly (99 per oent) from protons (27 s x 100 nA x 14 MeV). Thus, the radiation damage 38

Is conoentrated in a layer of 1.7 -2 mm under the irradiated surface of the seeds. By protecting the embryo region during irradiation, by the help of a suitable geometry of the samples the future germination of the analysed seeds will be quite normal (70 - 90 per cent normal seedlings) /V. This is the most important advantage of the present method. EBFEBINOES /I/ D.M. QrodzinBki, O.I1. Hemets, A.ff. llelenevski. Y.A. Tihi , Vestnik selskohozlaistvenol nauki, 7 (198?) 47 /2/ D.I. Dohan, E.G. Standing, Physics in Industry. Pergamon Press. Oxford and New Tork, 1976, 509. /3/ B. Sundqviat, L. Goenczl, I. Koersner, E. , IT. Lindh, Ion Beam Surface Analysis, Plenum Press, New Tork and London, 1976, 945 /4/ Gh. Dumitru, Ph. D. Thesis, Polyteohnioal Institute, Bucharest, 1983. FIGURES Fig.l. - Outline of the mechanized system for the analysis. Fig.2. - Experimental eleotroniosi 1 - Nal(Tl) scintillation oounter 2 - eleotronio ourrent integrator 3 - high-voltage supply 4 - linear amplifier 5,6 - single-ohannel analyser 7 - sealer 8 - eleotronio module controller 9 - SOB module 10 - multichannel analyser A - Control pulse for relays R^ and E, B - Gate pulse for the gamma-say measurement system 0 - Oontrol pulse for relays Eg and E^ D - Gate pulse for beam-pulsing ohopper (close) 1 - Gate pulse for beam-pulsing chopper (open) F - lfOS advance of MOA G - start of MOA H - digital pulse from the ourrent integrator or from the Nal(Tl) scintillation oounter Fig.3. - A typloal analysis sequence for a 60 s. cycle A,B,O,D,B,F - see Fig.2 Fig.4. - Comparison between the EJeldahl method results and our nuclear determinations. MAGAZINE

IRRADIATION

MEASUREMENT 39

H

G 10

B

A C A *5V- 3s 57S

B +5V- 27s 30s !L

0 D 0 27s -6V

27s E

F -3V |C T

x -SOYA BEAN

f -WHEAT AND BARLEY . - CORN

O

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 NUCLEAR NITROGEN a.u. 40 be 8 090 w

DETERMINATION OF IOUINE*129 CONTENT OF THIS PRIMARY COOLANT OF NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS

I.Kuleff Faculty of Chemistry,University of Sofia,1126-Sofia,Bulgaria S.Zotachev SAEK"Kozloduy" - Scientific department,3320-Kozloduy,Bulgaria G.Stefanov Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy,Uul.Lenin 72, 11,8**-Sofia, Bulgaria INTRODUCTION Iodine-129 is the only iodine radionuclide which exists in nature1 and is- obtained as a result of human activity-nuclear ..explosions and facilities aa well. As an uranium fission product (yield 1$) 3I is released in the envi- ronment notgQnly after accidents but at normal working conditions of nuclear reactors* ' X is among those radionuclideu,whose release into the environment from nuclear facilities plays an important gole in the global pollution of the biosphere due- ta its long half-life (1,7.10 y) and high radiobiologicalptoxity. In thia.respect the role of recovery plants in the pollution with f I is discussed ~ and its gontent has been determined in spent nuclear.fuel ' , waste waters and gases !' and in various environmental materials . The role of nuclear reactors in. I pollution is evaluated mainly theoretically from calculations of the I content in nuclear fuel or from prognostication of gaseous radioactive wastes .Besides verj often these evaluations are con- tradictory .The first known determination of °I in the coolant --of a nuclear reactor was done during and after the accident of TMI-2 in USA ' and the re- sults proved to be considerable lower than was expected. „ 17_2g The determination of yI in various materials,mainly biological ' 'Z » atmospheric air ' ,natural waters '''^ ..is carried out usually by KAA 9. In some cases direct X-ray spectrometry '|J as well as liquid scintilation spectrometry ' ' have been used.Better analytical parameters(lower limit of detection,accuracy) aire typical for NAA methods while direct X-ray spectromet- ry is more simple. The aim of the- present investigation was the development of a reliable neutron activation method for .1 determination in the coolant of nuclear power reactors,since its content there is the basic factor,determining the release of ' I in the environment at normal work of nuclear reactors. The use of the proposed neutron activation method and X-ray spectrometry are discussed In the paper aa well. EXPERIMENTAL A. Iodine—129 isolation •j •» V. 3 cm 0.1. M KI are added to 1,000 cm cooling water as a carrier .The,, so- lution is made alkaline(pH 8-3.5) with several drops 2M (NH. )2C0,. and 5 cnr 2.5$ NaiOCl are added.After addition of 5 cmJ2 M NH^OH.HCl the solution is carefully shaken* „ 2. The elemental iodine,thus formed is trice extracted with 20 cm CCl^. The violet coloured fraction is gathered in a separatory funnel. 3. 20 cnr distilled water and several drops 1 M Li SO,.6H 0 are added to the funnel.It is carefully shaken until both phases become colourless.CCl^ is discarded. .. „ k. 1 cm conc.HNO- and 1, cm 1i M NaNO are added to the water phase and step 2 is repeated. 5. Repeat step 3. 6. 2 cm 0.1 M Ba(N0_)2 is added to the solution and the residue,thus for- med is filtered and discarded. „ 7. The filtrate is acidified with several drops 2M CM C00H,2 cm-1 0.1 M O^)^ are

129 At the same time the I content in the coolant is below the detection limit of direct X-ray spectroraetry,reached at our conditions. 129 Table 1.Conten.Content of I in the cooling water of the reactors WWR-44O in nuclear power station "Kozloduy

Method Number of Content (mBq 129I/dm'') Ratio 129^7131j determinations

NAA. 5 17 T.5 2.5.10"8

X-ray a spectro- 5 110 16.2.10 metry

The data in Table I are 2*»0 times lower than the data for boiling reactors. and 10 times lower than those for Pressure reactora*calculated theoretically . On the basis of the result for yI,the ratio yl/ J I was experimentally determined for the cooling water of nuclear reactors, type WWR-MO.The result given in Table-1. is twice higher from that in Ref. and lower than the value iven in Ref. J for pressure reactors(4.6.V0->tiroes) ,and for boiling reactors ?4.6.10 times). 129 .... Using tne result for 1/ I ratio in Table I and assuming the radioiodi- ne content in the cooling water as a basic factor for its emission in the envi- ronment for a 10 years exploitation periodgof the nuclear power station "Kozloduy" .We used the data given in Ref. for the eight years period( 198i)and our results for 1982 and 1983 for the quantities of I released to the environment from the reactors of nuclear power station "Kozloduy".The total quantity I emmitted to the environment during the 10 years period amounted to 106a Bq which amounts to 44*3 Dq mean disposal per year.If we calculate the total quantiti of emitted I to the total quantiti of electric power,produced at nuclear power station "Kozloduy" this means 140.tnQaZMWgCoraparad to the data about the emission of "i from recovery plants >f •>*JftJ ,these values are extremely small. CONCLUSION The neutron activation.methodproposed in the present work,permits the reliable determination of lz"l in the cooling water of nuclear power reactors. The lower limit of detection amounts to 2.9 mBq/dnr and the precision-to 9 #>. Our Investigations proved that direct X-ray spectrometry is not suitable for these purposes. tne Results were obtained for iodine-129 content in the cooling water of 2q first cycle of nuclear reactors type WWR-44O.On this basis the quantity of I emitted to the environment at normal, working conditions was calculated and experimentally the neglegible participation of the nuclear reactors in the global pollution of the biosphere with iodine-129 was proved. REFERENCES 1. H.R.Von Gunten.ActinideB Rev., t(l969)275. 2. R.R.Edwards*Science,t37(1962)85*. 3 E.C.,B.Srinivasan,0.K.Mannuel,Earth planet Sci.Lett.,5(t969)

HIUTHOH AOTIVATIOH AKALTSI3 OF 80MB HIGH PUHITI SUBSTAHGB8 Maria S&lagean, Ana Fantelloa Institute for Physios and Nuolear Sngineering Bucharest lfQ~6, Boaanie Oornelia Dan, Ilena Apostol Institute for Physios and Technology of Materials Bucharest MG-6, Bomania

Abstract! 0aI2, Ge02, BigQ, and (HH^gltoO^HgO of high purity have been analysed by IHAA. Trace elements Ag, Au, As, Br, Oo, Os, Fe, Ha, Bb, Sb, Sc, Sr, Zn at ppm and ppb level were determined. IHTBGDUOTIGn It is Important to know the trace element contents in some samples in or- der to get high purity materials needed by various domains of resaaxch and technology. Impurity levels of 1-50 ppm are considered for these substances. The first three of above analysed substances were obtained in the Institute for physios and Technology of Materials. OaFo is used in growing crystal prooesses. These crystals have applica- tions in many domains of optlos (infrared instrumentation windows for gas - analyser, LA81B media, etc). GeO and BloO, of high purity were prepared to be utilised in the process of groowinl2 g 6 BIoOx.GeCu crystal_ s with piezoelectric properties and also 2 2U0,,i GeOu having feointiliation properties. (BHt^MoOi,.* HoO of^high purity was analysed since It is used as a reac- tive <*gent in the trace analysis of F and Si. It is also used in obtaining lead molibdatum of which piezoeleotrio crystals are grown.

The powder samples (30 mg in weight) packed in aluminum foils were irra- diated for 26 hours in a 1.4xlO*>3n/amZ.B. flux. Soil-? and Au (0.105 ug) were used as standards* The samples were transfered after irradiation in clean vials to be measured. The measurements of 3-5 hours were performed using a Qe(Li) deteotor proteoted by lead after 5t 19« 40 days oooling time. Fragments of the gamma spectra registered for the analysed substances are shown in fi- gures 1, 2, 3, 4. The traoe elements found are Au, Ag, As, Br, Oo, Os, Fe, Ha, Eb, Sb. So, Br, Zb. The background contribution in the Oo determination was taken into aooount. ES3DLTS AHD DIB0US8IQN The concentration valuea of the investigated trace elements are presented in table 1. TABU I

Oonoantration (pPm)

0aF2 GeO2 Bi2Oj (11^)^00^.4^0

Au(ppb) - 0.9+0.2 - - AS - 0.05+0.01 - - As - •M 0.12+0,02 -

Br - - 0.10+0.03 - Oo(ppb) 1.8±1.0 0.9+0.6 0.5±0.3 7+2 Os(ppb) - 2±1 - 470+30 Fe <2 1.9+0.6 1.1+0.6 <2 Ha - 19+2 0.5+0.2 - Bb - - - 2.4+0.3 Sb - - - 0.10+0.02 Bo(ppb) - 0.15±0.06 - - Sr 843 - - - Zn 0.04+0.03 0.04+0.02 0.4+0.1 45

Sh« low ierel of the impurities content reflects purity of tba ^malns above

ENERGY (keV)

Figure 1

ENERGY (keV)

Figure 2 COUNTS / CHANNEL COUNTS/CHANNEL

99 739 Mo 511 — 765 95Nb(Mo)

609 (Bkg) -559 76As — 619 82Br .913 92mNb(Mo)

92mNblMo) 777

m m z z 205 91mNb(Mo) m m TO Q 82 o Br JT n> < 1173 60Co U60 bkg W o o

X ro O 1692 U60 [Bkg) $9-85001 bf 47

14-MeV NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS FOR OXYGEN DETERMINATION IN SILICON SINGLE-CRYSTALS Timus D.M., Gala^anu V., Oatana D. Institute for Physios and Technology of Radiation Devices Bucharest MG-6, Romania Blaga N., Popesou 0* R-D Institute for Electronic Components Bucharest, Romania Bradeanu A* Radio Components and Semiconductor Entreprise Bucharest, Romania INTRODUCTION In the processing of the semiconductor devices, a frequently ocoining problem is that of the oxygen oontent In silicon single-crystals. Silicon be- haviour is strongly affected by the concentration, spatial distribution and state of the oxygen in the orystal volume* Using infrared absorbtion method, Oshawa et al. /I/ have reported that helical damages are generated in the high oxygen content domains* Currently used methods for the oxygen content determination are destruo- tive (emission spectroBoopy) or limited to the interstitial oxygen atoms (in- frared absorbtion)* The present work deals with the application of the nondestructive, fast neutron activation method for the total oxygen oontent determination with re- gards to the correlation of this content with the material properties of the silicon. PRINCIPLES 07 THE FAST NEUTRON ANALYSIS The method applied is based on the study of the nuclear aotivation reac- tions induced by fast neutrons in their interaction with the nuolei of the chemical elements* If the sample to be analysed is irradiated in a beam of particles, the induced radioactivity of the isotope has the following time dependent varia- tion i

f 6..Q2.1O2? a 's number M,m a atomic mass, respectively mass of the chemical element, whose isotope is activated 8 a isotopic natural abundanoe ratio of the activated isotope (%) mean density of the flux in the investigated speoiaent(oBrZ8"i) t oross-seotion of the activation reaotion (am?) * radioactive constant of the produced radioisotope (cm-1)

T1/2 m half-life of the induced radio isotope t, a irradiation time (the same units as I^) •Che decay of the aotivated radioisotope is accompanied by the radiations whose energy and time evolution are characteristic to the initial activated element and independent c\ his physioo-ohemioal state* For the oxygen deterioration by aotivation, a large number of nuclear reactions oan be used in principle /2-4/v from which that based on fast neu- trons i* the most important. For neutron energies Bn> 10 MeV, the following reaotion is producedt Bra6,13 MeV, 7,12 MeV 16 p jr > 16O T / 74 with energic gamma ray emission. By interpretation of the informations provided by the gamma radiation specifics to oxygen aotivation, the total oxygen oontent m in silicon can be determined using equation (1), taking into account that (Tn,pfM-.10<>^6cm2 16 (for Bnal4 MeV) and benefiting by the high value of 0 abundance ratio (e = 99,76 $). Reaction (2) offers the following advantages! a. The irradiation and measurin g16 times can be short, because of the short half-life (T1/9a7,4a) of the isotope N produced. Analysis is rapid. b. Gamma'rays emitted by the 16N have energies (6,13 MeV;7,12 MeV) higher that of the others elements. Since the energetic discrimination is possible, the analysis ia specific. o. High neutron and gamma rays penetration, determined by the characte- ristic energies, allows to analyse great volumes. Analysts is representative. d. Rather high cross-section. Analysis is sensitive. e. Irradiated sample is not physico-ohemioally modified. Analysis is non- destructive* f• Fast neutron flux densities of (108-109)n.cm~2.s-l. can be obtained by means of a low voltage direct accelerator type fast neutron generator. In order to avoid the possible errors Induced by the difficulties appear ring in determination of the neutron field parameters (£,0",ti) from relation (1) /5»6/, we have prefered a relative method with a standard of known oxygen content (AlgO*, quartz, etc). APPARATUS AMD EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The equipment and experimental set-up of the analytical system contain the following partst a. Fast neutron generator 14-MeV monoenergetio neutrons are produced in the following nuclear fu- sion reaction, by bbabarding a tritium occluded target by deutons with an e- nergy of about 150 keV in our GOT type GEHBDAO neutron generators H> + a. » a + 4H« (3) Deutons are produoed by deuterium ionisation in an ion source with osci- lating electrons electrical discharge and axial magnetic plasma confinement. They are extracted from ion source and fooussed by means of an iono-optic lens. Thus formed deuton beam is thehaooelerated in a single gap tube up to a potential of 150 KV, accelerating potential being supplied by a voltage multiplier self contained in the direct accelerator. The intensity of the de- uton beam can be controlled up to 1 mA by controlling iono-optic parameters of the accelerator. The target end of the accelerator tube can be radiated from the main unit by means of a valve, which allows rapidly replacing of the target, without breaking the vacuum in the rest of the accelerator. The tar- get is situated at ground potential and water-cooled. A mobile tantalum screen pneumatically positioned in front of the tritium target intercept the deuton beam in order to spare the tritium and to correlate the sequences of the ana- lysis cycle. The neutron production obtained for a deuton beam intensity of 0,5 mA, is about lOiOn.s"1 in 4TT solid angle. All the functional parameters of the neutron generator are controlled from the control panel* b. Counting and control equipment Gamma ray counting system is composed of two identical units i one for the sample to be analysed and the other for the standard. They contain a gamma scintillation detector (Nal orystal), a photomultiplier, a preamplifier, a li- near amplifier with variable energy discrimination thresholds and a counting scale* Background noise is automatically corrected. Lower discriminator thres- hold is set at 4,5 MeV since no other isotope produced in the sample emits gamma-rays above 4 MeV. Oounts from both units, which are proportional to oxy- gen oontent, are fed to an electronio computer, where after gaemebloal and at- tenuation corrections, the oxygen oontent of the silicon single-crystal is calculated. Bleotronic equipment contain* also the units which control and operate the temporal sequenoes needed to the analysis oyole. The sucoesive operations were programmed according to a sequential oyole* The presence of the sample and of the standard at the measuring or at the irra- diation places, as well as the neutron generating state of the neutron genera- tor is indicated on the control board. The irradiation or measuring sequence starts only if the sample and the standard are in their required places* o* Pneumatic conveyor system Due to the short half-life of the 16H isotope it is essential to trans- port rapidly the sample and the standard from the irradiation site to the mea- suring site. A double rectangular section (internal dimensions 21x11 mm) alu- minium pneumatic transport system brings the samples to and from the irradia- tion site. The transit time is less than two seconds. Time dependent varia- 49 tions of the neutron flux density are without effect on the accuracy of the analysis. In order to avoid the mutual influence on the counts, at bhe measu- ring places, the two transport ducts are separated by a distance of aprox. 1 m. The pneumatic system for the sample has an automatic feeder for the in- troduction and ejection of the samples. The decay of the 1% nuclei is total after aproximatelly one minute, so that the standard can serve indefinitely for analysis* RESULT AND DISCUSSION Use of the relative method of analysis implies the knowledge of a correc- tion factor for the spatial flux density gradient, energy dependence of cross saotlon, neutron attenuation in the sample, facing the tritium target. la the x and s indices refer to the sample and the standard respectively and taking into account aquation (l)v the oxygen content has been calcu- lated according to the following relation! when E is determined by two standards with the same known oxygen content, ir- radiated and measured simultaneously* Samples (20 mm dia., 10 mm heght) cleaned to remove the surface contami- nations have been conteinarad for easy handling. Using the above mentioned equipment and experimental set-up, the total oxygen content has been determined in silicon single-crystals. Values from (lOQ*25)ppm to (180Qi90)ppm have been determined. They are one to two orders of magnitude higher than the interstitial oxygen content values, due to the annealing treatments applied to the silicon crystals as received* CONCLUSIONS 14—MeV neutron activation analysis of oxygen in silicon single-crystals is rapid .(total analysis time is less than 60s), specific (allows a good ener- getic discrimination In relation to other elements)and precise, being able to characterlaa nondastructlvely the whole volume of the analysed sample* HBFIHBN0E8 /I/ A. Ohsawa, K. Honda, S. Ohkawa, R* Veda. Appl.Phys.Lett.36,2(1980)147 /2/ R.Van Grieken, J. HoBte, BURIS0T0P-65,Bibliografies-8,1972 /?/ G* Brdtmann, Neutron Aotivation Tables, Verlag Ohemie, Welnhelm,1976 /V S. Godar, Note OBA No.2W-5» 1962 /5/ D.M.Tlmue, M.N.Tlmue, Bev.Roum.8ol.Teoh.-Bleotroteoh.et Inerg.,17,2(1972) 251 D.M.TlmuB, 7T-£2f-1983( IOBPIZ-Buohar«at, 1983. 50

INSXRUMENTAL PH0T0A0TIVATI0N ANALYSIS 07 BOMB ILBMENTS IN BTXSL V. (*&l&$anu, B. Timus, D. Oatana Institute for Physios and Technology of Radiation Davices Buoharest MG-6, Romania INTRODUCTION Photoactivation oan be successfally used for analytical purposes as a oompl«tua&*ry method to the neutron activation, especially for several low and medium. 1 elements in balk samples and when moderate sensitivities are n««d«d /1-3/. This is the oase for steel samples in which must be nondestructively de- termined the concentrations of some minor elements. The low absorption of activating high energy X-rays, the small cross sections and the unfavorable half-lives and gamma-rays energy of the photoac- tivated major elements offer the possibility to investigate large represen- tative samples. The main reaction an* speotroscopic data concerning the analysed elements are summarised in Table 1 /4/. TABLE 1. - Photoaotivation Data

Analysed Nuclear T,/0 Main gamma-rays element reaction x/* B (keV (I %) Or 53Or ( i\p) 52V 3.76 m 1434.1 (100) Ni 58Ni (f ,n) 57Hi 36.0 h 1377.6 (78) Mo 92Ho (f ,n) 9lBMo 65 s 652.9 (48.1) }1508.0(24.2) INTSRPBHBNOBS

The examination of special tables /5(6/ shows that no other gamma-rays with energies close to those listed in table 1 are expected to be produced through photonuolear reactions. The most dangerous interferences are due to other nuclear reactions pro- duo ing the same radioactive nuoleus as the useful photonuclear reaction. Two such interfering reactions are possible only in the case of Cr deter- mination i 5*V

We have experimentally checked by irradiating and counting pure Mn and V samples that in our conditions none of these interfering reaotions oan be ob- served. BXPBRIMBNTAL PROCEDURE AND RBS0LT8 The disc sampleB (40 mm diameter and 3*5 mm thickness) were irradiated in the bremsstrahlung beam of a 25 MeV betatron, at OV5 m from the Ft target in order to insure a fairly uniform Irradiation. The gamma-rays were detected with a 40 am Ge(Ll) detector coupled to an IN 90 programmable analyser. For the determination of Ni concentrations, the irradiation, «cooling" and coun- ting times were 1 hour and the exposure dose was monitored with a transmission ionization chamber having an appropriate integrating time constant. For the determination of Or and Mo concentrations, the irradiation and oounting times were 5 minutes with a 0.5 min. transport time. The exposure dose was monitored by a simultaneous irradiation of pure Gr and Mo samples and oounting with a different speotrometrio chain. In order to perform quantitative analysis we prepared standard samples with known amounts from the analysed elements. Oorrection factors for selfab- sorption and solid angle have been experimentally determined by irradiating and counting steel samples with increasing thickness in front of the standard sample. The unknown concentration 0 of the analysed element is computed with the relation! 1 0,0- "„ , .-j m- . -IJ where 0' is the oonoentration of the investigated element in the standard 51 sample, m and m1 are the masses of the sample and the standard, I and I1 are the intensities of the gamma-rays used for detection and corrected for the selfabsorption and solid angle (the irradiation, cooling and counting times for the sample and standard are the same). The concentrations determined are between 0.1 and 9 % for Nl, between 0.4 and 18 % for Or and between 0.05 and 1.50 % for Mo, The accuracy of the determinations is 10 % for lower concen- trations and 3 % for higher concentrations. HISBRBHOES /I/ Oh. Sngelmann, J. Radioanal. Ohem. 55 (1980) 379 /2/ 7. Gal&tjanu, H. Greoescu, G. Baciu, St. Oero. Fiz. 26 (1974) 9 /3/ 7. Galafcanu, U. Grecesou, Rev. Bourn. Phys. 24 (1979) 9 /4/ O.M. Lederer, 7.S. Shirley, Table of Isotopes (1978) /5/ 7* Galafcanu, M. Greoescu, J. Radioanal. Ohem. 10 (1972) 315 /6/ Z. Banda, V. Kreisinger, J. Radioanal. Ohem. 77 (1983) 279. 52

APPLICATION OF THE IMAA TO THE INITIAL OS PROijCTILE LEAD o D.Dimitrov Institute of Criminalistic, Bul.Slivnitza 235, 1202 Sofia,Bulgaria INTRODUCTION Data having certain importance for identification of projectiles, causing gunshots, can be obtained on account of lead impurities concentration.This problem is discussed in a number of works (1,2,3,4), where the two methods of analyses are suggested - RNAA(2) and INAA [3,4).The proposed work rate (4J is of a particular interest because it is express.lt affords the opportunity for mea- suring the contents of Sb, Cu and Ag in a few minutes by using their short-life isotops Sb-124m1, Cu-66 and Ag-110.The samples are irradiated with reactor heat neutrons as the duration of each step (irradiation, cooling, measurement) is 40s.Gamma-lines 498keV of Sb-124m1, 658keV of Ag_iio and 1O39keV of Cu-66 are measured by spectrometer. The aim of this work i3 the creation of a sequence of operations in car- rying out the INAA of lead samples of proectiles, allowing the qualitative and quantitative initial comparison having in mind a single limitation - the time for the analysis of one sample must not exeed 20-24min. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIOM Some of neutron-activation characteristics of the chemical elements, found most frequently as lead impurities, are shown in (5,6).The intensities cf gamma- lines, measured after the irradiation..of the.corresponding chemical elements by slor-."l«i.wr reacto-MAnn4-Airn neutronYiaii4-»nnsa l.F-t+Vwithl flo"P1 r\Z.Tw no "fP 110'•'n O -'m. n cmm '.O s '-FlTT fo* r^D 60sc , Qar T» Oe 1 indicated.Usin Y1 ft 1 Cfl +. C*(\ . TT R T Tlg £f this work rate it is possible to determine micrograms of Sb, Cu, Ag and Au.The same applies to As as the As-76 has a half-life period of 2b.3h. The alteration limits of concentrations of the impurities in lead samples and some gamma-lines are shown in table 1(2,4).The expected initial intensities are calculated in accordance with[5,6). Table 1 - Range of concentra- tion values Range of consentra- Gamma-lines, Intensity, changes(2,4). •OJ.C1UCI1 U tion changes, ft keV c/s The real concentration Sb 0.05 -• 2.8 498.4 1.1.10"? values of the 602.7 1.1.10? impurities al- 645.8 1.1.105 low the instru- 2 2 mental record AB 1.10" -- 5.1O" 559.1 2.7-10^ of Sb, As, Cu 657.0 4.2.10^ and Ag only.The Cu 7.1O"4-- 5.1O"2 1039.4 1.8.104 close location 4 of 559.1keV of Ag 2.10" -- 8.10"5 632.9 1.9.1O4. 5 As-76 and 564.0 657.7 4.1.10 keV of Sb-122 Zn 1 10"4 910.0 1.10"1 gamma-linea, the 6 6 high contents of Au 1.10" -- 9.1O" 411.8 3.5 Sb and commensu- rability of half -life periods of Sb-122 and As-76 necessitates the analyses of Aa to be carried out on the 657.OkeV.The presence of As at the same is a problem concerning the Ag determination on the 657.7keV line of Ag-110. Table 2 illustrates the possible influence of As on the measurement ol Ag on the 657.7keV line of Ag-110.When the ratios between the quantities are as M = m(As)/m(Ag) fe.50 , the duration of the accurate measurement is limited to 0 - 30s immidiately after the irradiation.The defined conditions do not allow the start of measurement by use of a spectrometer earlier than 3O-4Os after tne irradiation.All this necessitates the determination of Ag on the 632.9keV line of Ag-108 and imposes the choice of irradiation durating 120-180s, cooling - above 200s, when the simultaneous measurement by a spectrometer of the 6>57.OfceV line of As-76 is also possible. The above considerations orientated us to the use of analysis scheme like that, shown on fig. 1. . The scheme is entirely carried out when the concentrations of As and Ag are commensurable.When M S* 50, the measurements are done according to the first part of the scheme. 53

Table 2 - Ratio of the intensities of lines 637.0keV of As-76 and 657.7keV of Ag-110 in percent.The calculations refer to the simulta- neous irradiation.^ of As and Ag with reactor heat neutrons with a flow of ~ 10 ?n.em .a .

Goo- I r r a d i a t ion ling, s 30s 40s 60s 120s 180s M=50 M=1 M=50 M=200 M=50 M=1 M=50 M=1 M=50 000 0.5 0.01 0.6 2.2 0.7 0.02 1.2 0.04 1.7 030 1.2 0.03 1.3 5.3 1.6 0.06 2.8 0.08 4.0 040 _ 0.04 1.8 7.0 _ _ - - - 080 — 0.11 5.4 21.8 — - - - 120 15.2 0.34 17.0 68.0 — - - - 180 a3.o, 1.90 93.3, 373.4 116.2 , 3.93 196.6, 5.70 287.0, 300 2.5.10 556.4 3.10- 3.s.io5 119.0 6.1O3 173. 3 9.1°

Samples from four real cases with mass between 120 and 180mg are analyzed.

Cu-66(iO39.4keV), Ag-108 Cooking„ Measurement. (632.9keV), Sb-124m1(602.7 I. 210-2408 300-6O0e and 498.4keV), AB-76(657.0 keV) Irradiation. 120)-180- s Coolingt Measurement, As-76(657.OkeV) II. 500-840s 600s

Big. 1

Table 3 shows the impurity coneentrations from Sb, As, Cu and Ag. Table 3 - Concentration values of Sb, As, Cu and Ag in the analysed lead samples from pro- ectiles, $. Samples Sb As Cu Ag The analyses are carried out by irradiation with reactor A 1.80 0.55 0.0013 0.001 heat neutrons, flowing at B 0.0008 0.67 0.0008 0.002 1 0.022 5.10 n.cm .8 and measure- C 0.33 0.0028 0.001 ment lay the use of Ge(Li) detec- D 0.091 0.02 0.0021 0.009 tor with efficiency 7.2 # arnd resolution 2.3keV on line In table 4 the values of the relative statistic deviations of results 1

Table 4 - Values of the relative statistic deviations at different analysis schemes, %. El e- Irradiation - Cooling - Measurement, s / Samples H6n."fc 120-210-300;120-420-300) 120-240-600;120-600-600;180-210-600 D A 0 A B D A B C Sb 3.4 1.1 15.6 0.6 0.5 - 7.5 As - 3.6 11.1 3.4 3.5 4.7 2.5 2.3 2.6 Cu 9.1 13.5 7.2 9.0 9.3 8.4 6.5 5.1 Ag 1.1 13.1 5.8 9.7 5.0 7.5 2.6 7.3 54

It must be noted that at Sb concentrations ^ 0.005 $ and at relatively high contents of As (samples B) an additional much longer irradiation and cooling are needed, so that the measurements can be carried out on gamma-li- nes 564.0keV and 692.5keV of Sb-122 or 6O2.6keV of Sb-124. COflCLUSIOJ!! A scheme for initial quantitative analyses of lead samples from proec- tiles, carried out by means of IflAA, is proposed.lt gives an opportunity for determination the concentrations of Sb, As, Cu and Ag when the contents of Sb are s> 0.005$.The analyses time consuming does not exceed 20 - 25 min. REFERENCES 1. P.A.VAGAHOV, V.B.IUKiriCHKI, Neutrons and Forensic Bcience, Izdat. Uni- versity of Leningrad, 1981. 2. R.D.GuT. B.D.PATE J. Radioanal. Ohem., 15(1973)155. 3. S.J.GAGE, J.B.WHITWORTH, J. Radioanal. Chem., 15(1973)337. 4. V.P.GUIHH, M.A.PURCELL, J. Radioanal. Chem., 39(1977)85. 5. R.DAMS, J. Radioanal. Chem., 61(1981)13. 6. S.A.LIS, PH.K.HOPKE, J.I.PASCHINY, J. Radioanal. Chem., 25(1975)303. 55

DETERMINATION OF Al, Cl, S AND V BY NONDESTRUCTIVE ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

B.Smodis, L.Kosta, A.R.Byrne, M.Dermelj "J.Stefan" Institute and Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology, "E.Kardelj" University, 61000 Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

INTRODUCTION Neutron activation analysis of short-lived radionuclides by non-destructive or instru- mental gamma-ray-spectrometry (INAA) offers good possibilities for rapid and precise deter- mination of a wide range of elements in a broad spectrum of matrices HI. In the present con- tribution, the analysis of Al, Cl, S and V in a range of oils, rubbers, organic liquids, aqueous samples and inorganic solids is presented, together with a brief discussion of the factors affecting accuracy and precision, interferences, and the possibilities given by pre- or post-irradiation separations in certain cases.

EXPERIMENTAL For the standard non-destructive procedure, the encapsulated sample together with a suit- able standard or standards were irradiated for periods of a few seconds to several minutes in the pneumatic transfer system (rabbit) of our TSIGA Mark II reactor at a flux of 4xl0l2n.cm~2 sec-1. The induced gamma activity was measured by an intrinsic Ge detector (17 % efficiency, 1.8 KeV resolution at 1.33 MeV) connected to a Canberra 80 Series MCA. For measurements last- ing half of a half life or less, with an initial dead tune of *slO %, a first order correction based on the mean dead time (given by the analyser) could be applied. For these high energy y -emitters, a Pb filter was with advantage placed between sample and detector to improve the signal to "noise" ratio. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Aluminium 2? n 28 Al(100%) J ')^,,» Al(t, ._ = 2.31 nan, Ey = 1.778 MeV, I = 100%) The main interferences, apart from second order reaction from Mg, are fast neutron production of 28^ Via 28si(n,p) and 31p(n,o«) processes. However, the cross sections for these reactions are small, so care is needed only in matrices based on Si, P or Mg, with low Al levels. Corrections based on estimation of the fast neutron contribution using Cd covers to screen thermal (n,y) reactions were not required for the matrices studied. Al was determined in rubber, motor oils and oil filters, and in TiO2. (In the latter case use of a thick Pb filter improved the signal/noise ratio by around a factor of 103). Concentrations from 0.1 to 1500 ug/g were measured. Chlorine 37 n r 38 C1(24.2%) i ' n k?h» Cl(t1/P = 37-2 nan, Erl = 1.642 MeV, I = 33%, c = 043b 1/2 ' 6 m%

Interferences may arise from second order reaction on 36s( Or fast neutron reactions via 38Ar(nFp) and 4lK(nlOe). Again these cross sections are small so that appreciable errors arise only in matrices based on argon, potassium or sulphur. Samples analysed included water, steel, corrosion products, welding tape, and various industrial products. The concentrations covered the range 0.4 to 1000 fJg.g"1. Results were verified by gravi- metry in some cases (AgCl). Where high 5BMn activities were induced in certain metal products, distillation separation of 38ci after irradiation was necessary. Sulphur 36 ( 37 S(O.O15%) tf "'^15g S(t1/2 = 5.06 rain, Ey= 3.10 MeV, I = 90%)

Because of the high Er, (only ^Ca, 3.08 MeV, has a gamma ray in this upper region), selectivity is high; on the other hand, sensitivity is poor (low abundance, small*). The only practical interference is via 37ci(n,p)37s. Measurement of 3°ci to determine the S/Cl ratio is required and a correction is applied if necessary. In oil products and rubber, Cl/S ratios are not of significance and results m the range 0.5 - 4 % and 0.7 - 2.5%, respecti- vely, were obtained. Results were verified by gravimetry (BaSOij) after oxygen ignition, and from some results obtained with ASTM mfethods supplied by the refinery for oil products. (Table 1). Table 1 Comparative results for S and V

1 Sulphur (ir i %) Vanadium Uig.g- ) Sample INAA gravimetric refinery INAA refinery Heavy oil 1 3.,53*0.14 (4) 3-53*0. 05 (6) 72.9, 67-1 Heavy oil 2 2.,76±O.O5 (4) 2. 81*0.04 (6) 51.0, 50.9 Heavy oil 3 2.,74*0.04 (4) 2.74*0. 11 (4) 41.3, 40.9 Heavy oil 4 2.,63*0.08 (4) 2.66±O.11 (4) 50.6, 49.4 Heavy oil 5 3,.12*0.18 (6) 3.2X 82.6*1.5 (6) Light heating oil 0,.72-0.03 (3) 0.103, 0.097 Benzene 0.048*0.004 (4) 0.001, 0.0014

determined by gravimetric standard method ASTM-D 1551 xxdetermined by colorimetric standard method ASTM-D 1548

Vanadium 51V (n,y)t 52V {t . 3>?5 mini EY= 1-4314 MeV( : . 100%) Interference reactions can be ignored at concentrations of V in the ug/g range and above, where INAA is applicable. V was determined in oils, rubbers (see Table 1) and Ti02 pigments. In the latter, a Pb filter is very advantageous.However, if the Al/V ratio is greater than about 100, determination is very difficult or impossible, and pre-separation becomes the best option. Further results will be presented in the full paper. It can be concluded that, provi- ded interferences are controlled, determination of Al, Cl, S and V in a wide range of indu- strial and other products by INAA represents an attractive, and rapid alternative to other analytical methods. REFERENCES 111 Nondestructive Activation Analysis, S.Amiel (Ed), Studies in Anal.Chem. No.3, Elsevier, 1981. 5 9- 8

DETERMINATION OF PLATINUM CONCENTRATION IN GOLD MATRIX BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION V.Cojeearu, Stefania Spiridon Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, P.O.Box MG-6 MBgurele-Bucharaat, 76900, Ramania INTRODUCTION The determination of platinum concentration in a saaple with a high amount of gold is a difficult problem. Eren more difficult is to finde the platinum concen- tration in a gold matrix. Nevertheless the problem is important at least in ar- chaeology and geochemistry investigations. Platinum has six stable isotopes, all of them having moderate values of the neutron activation cross section. One hour irradiation of platinum in a reactor gives for th« stable isotopes ^Ojpt, 192p+ 194pt, 196pt and 198pt a production factor of 0.07, 0.05, 0.08, 5.0 and 100.0 re- spectively. The only nuclei which deserve to pay attention are the last two. 197pt is not very convenient having the most intensive gama-line at 77.46 keV (21 %} that is in the X-ray region and a relatively short half-life (18.5 h). The most productive is1 99pt with a short half-life (30.8 min) and not very intensive gemma-lines (542.7 keV has 16.4 *), but it is B"-decaying in 199Au (TJ/2 = 5.13 d). This seems to be a good alternative. Unfortunately in neutron irradia- tion !99AU is also coming on the other way (Figure 1).

i , ** I Figure 1 197 Au Jn.iL 198 Au Ml, 199 Au

The idea of the work consists in the pre-irradiation separation aB far as pessible of platinum of its matrix and to find the most favorable irradiation con- ditiona of the separate sample in order to get a high ratio of activities

A199/ A199 were by prime is indicated the interference ehain initiated by !97AU. EXPERIMENTAL Chemical separation. The pre-irradiation separation was made by means of nany step organic solvent extraction technique, followed by ion exchange procedure* The tests wsre made with gold and platinum metals irradiated at the neutron fluxes in such a way to create balanced activity tracers 198±u ftnd 199pt (or 197pt). After irradiation the samples were mixed up, completely dissolved in aqua regia and sep- arated. Counting was done using a 50 cmc coaxial Qe(Li) detector and a 4096 channel pulse-hight analyzer. System resolution is better than 2 keV fwhm at 1.55 MeV TT- ray. The detector was placed in a low background protection which reduces the background around 100 times. In order to keep a constant geometry all samples were measured at the sama volume (12 ml). The separation scheme is summarized graphical- ly in Figure 2. The solvent extraction was repeated four timee. The aqueous phase of the fourth extraction was heated to dryness and the residue was- dissolved in 3 ml of 3N HC1. The solution was then passed through a Bmall (0.5 cm diameter) column with 0.25 g Dowex 2 x 10 (200 - 400 mesh) ion exchange resin at a flow of 12 dropB/min and washed with 50 - 125 ml solution of HC1 cone.(10 %) + acetone (90 %) at the same flow rate. If the initial ratio Pt/Au = 1, after the first and fourth solvent extraction steps it becomes in aqueous phase. 200 and 4000 respectively. In this time the platinum concentration is reduced to 80 %. After the ion exchange procedure the ratio becomes Pt/Au • 105 and the total recovery of platinum iB found to be (68 - 3) %. 58

Sample | Disolve in HNO3-HCI Make 3N inHCl (7.5ml) Extract with ethyl acetate (2.5ml) I oqueous (Pt) — f-t-y) Heat to dryness ^-""^ Disolve in HCI 3N(7.5ml) Extract with ethyl acetate (25ml) Repeat U times

aqueous (Pt)—( Heat to dryness Make 3N in HCI (3ml) * Dowex 2»10 brojHCl cone. (10%i (200 - A 00 mesh) P*9 acetone (90%) (50 - 125ml!

eluent resme-

Figure 2

Irradiation parameters. The irradiation tine and the neutron flux have to be properly chosen in order to Bake the ratio of the !99AU activity cosing from plati- num (A199) to the J-99AU activity coming from gold (^199) as high as possible. One can find that at the end of neutron irradiation (see Fig.l):

9 Im these equations where I is the integral resonance. The ratio M99/ A199 vs. the irradiation time ie given in Figure J. The eurves 1, 2 and 5 are ealoulaTed for a flux of lOll, id* and 1OW n em-2 a-1, re- speetiveiy. The lower neutron flux the higher the ratio A190/ A199,but a too low flux can give an insufficient detection limit for platinum. For a necessary fluence it is better to chose a lower neutron flux. At the gamma-spectrometeruaed in this work the detection limit is of 55 ng Pt far an irradiation time of 5 h «nd a meas- •uring time of 1O0OO a. With a reduction of gold concentration by 105 times and a A/A = 8, an ameuat of 5 mg gold will give a correction of only 10 % in the r~ lime of 158.4 keV (199AU). Thia correction ie found by aid of the ratio (area of 158.4 keV «*-iiBt)/(area of 411.8 y-line) of a standard of gold irradiated in re- actor together with the investigated samples. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Nuggets of geld from different plaoers of the Apuseni Mountains (Romania) and frem Romanian rivers j^ave been used aa samples. The mass «f the eampleB was between

' "^Im ardor to ebaerva by aid of 198AU tracer the reduetien ef geld alamg the platimom separatiem process the samples ware irradiated at a low meutrem fluemee 59

(6.101' m «»~2). The recovery af platinum waa feund uaing a combination of plati- num and geld with a mass ratio Pt/Au «^ 1/1000 which waa preeeos*d ia tha same way with tha investigated samples. Tha reaiaa am whiah platinum waa retained were irradiated a tine of 20 haura at a tharaal neutron flux of 1.1 1011 a ««-2 a-1 (thermal column of the WR-S reactor).

\ 8 1 / \ f \ 2 Sj \ r - o I / at f 1 \ r3 -1 / f r \ ••^iBHi -21 J 1 01234 5678 log tjr (sec)

Figure 3

counting waa dana after a decaying time af 6 daya in ardar ta gat a law 2*Na aad aetivitiea earning fram realn. Conoeatratioma af platinum between 0 and 460 ppppm with an areregegee af 2700 ppmm were faund inn tthe inveatigatanveatigad nuggetsnuggt. ItInterferef d to. TThhaa interferencitferencinterfeencee af 47ssee (159.(59444 keVe)) eoming fram46ca(aa ((ir)47C() a (p) ia not poapaibleaiblei , ealeiuli mm beinbi g nott retineretainetidd by tthaha rraaina i . AlaAla o ttheh e rreactienti e (n,p)) aanndd ((n,<(,^ ^ ) whichiichh poproducd ee **7s7scc aree excluded ainea thermall nautran fluxeaa wawarre uaed. NaTortheleeB tin by thell7"Sll7 n (1( 4 d) iaatapi e whiai h haa only a /-lini e (198.(1 4 kaV) aan interfere with 199A.tt. Ita preaence can be put in aTidenee ceunting either 158.4 kaV tf-line after tha decay af 199A« (ea. 90 d) or 992 keV tf-iina af tha I1"Sm (119 d) iaetepa and doing tha neeeaaary eerreetiene. A tin standard was irra- diated together with the raaina en which platinum wae absorbed in order to find the ratio of the areas *(198.4 keV)/*(929 keV) coming from tin. In our samples no tin interferences waa found. 60 5

IMPURITY Dfc TERMINATION IN Bi.,0 ANJ) Jlg BY NliUTHON ACTIVAFIuN

ANALYSIS AND ATCMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

S.Aleitsandrov,I.Kul«ff .R.Djingova,S.Arpadjan Faculty of Chemistry, University of Sofia, 1126-Sofia,Bulgaria: E.Taakaev Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 118^-Sofia, Bulgaria INTRODUCTION Lately the interest in the production of monocrystals and optical fibres from inorganic materials grew immensly because of their importance in lazer technique and optical electronics. A very important condition in production and use is the purity of the raw material. In order to evaluate the properties of the high purity materials, used nowadays in different branches of electronics one must use highly sensitive analytical methods. In the present paper are presented some results from the analysis of high purity B12O., and PbCl™ obtained by NAA and AAS in the Analytical Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Chemistry. EXPERIMENTAL A.Neutron activation analysis. I. Preparation of samples and standards. About 0.5 - 1 g from the mate- rial is sealed in polyethylene container (for the first irradiation) or in poly- etiiylene foil (for the second irradiation). (The polyethylene foil has been ootained under high pressure. The two materials are before washed with detergent and water, put for Z-* h in HNO (i:i), washed abundantly with deionized water, aha alcohole and dried under IR lamp.) As standard IAJUA reference material V-9 (cotton cellulose) is used /i/. Additionally well Known quantities of Ag and As are added to it since in V-9 tnose two elements are in lower concentrations than in the samples. The standard is sealed in the same way as the samples (about 0.1 g). 2.Scheme of the analysis. The scheme of the analysis is shown on Fig.l. The radionuclides and gamma-lines used in the analysis are given in Table 1. The first irradiation is done using the rabbit system of the experimental nuclear reactor tM-300« Al.Co.Ce, Cu.Mg.Mn IRT-2000, Sofia /z/ with a neutron flux 6.10 em .s . The second

tM-5000i As,Au,Br,Hg, irradiation was performed in one K,Lo,Na,Sb of the vertical channels of the reactor with neutron flux amounting

1i2 2 to (i-3).1.0 cn.- .B-\ tw-1Q0Q0» Ag,Ce,Co,Cr. After the first irradiation Fe,H(,Zn,Zr the gamma-spectrometry of the samples^aone on a Ge( Li) detector (energy resolution 2.8 KeV, efficiency 8 i for H332.5 KeV) Fig. 1 Scheme of INAA of Bi 0_. connected to a kO96 channel analy- t =irradiation time}t =cooling zer Canberra kO, after the second fl o irradiation the measurements are tlme;tM= measurement time. done with a 6e( Li) detector (ener- , ,, . ,,.,„, , BY resolution 2.3 KeV, efficiency 1<+ > at KJJ2.5 KeV) connected to 4096 channel analyzer Canberra 31.80. It should be mentioned that the measuring time for the samples of PbCl- was twice longer than that for Bi^O (shown on Fig.l). * The data evaluation (including all necessary corrections)was done by using a program according the algorithm, described in /3/. B.Atomic absorption spectrometry.

The determination of Cu.Fe.Ni, Cd, Zn in PbCl., ls done after concentration of the elements by using a three phase extraction with MIBK /k/. The determination of Mn is performed after acidic extraction with H_S0K.

The samples of Big03 are dissolved in 8 M HC1. After extraction with MIBK 61

Fe and. Mo are determined in the organic phase by the standard addition method. Cu,M,CoiCd,Pb and Mn are determined after concentration, transformation of fli.O.into ai(OTK)~ and three phase extraction with MIBK. The elements pass into tne organic phase, which is directly pulverized in flame air/acetylene. Tne standard addition method is used. All measurements are done on AAS Pye Unicam SP 9. RiSULTS AND DISCUSSION Table I, together with some parameters used in the NAA of BigO.. and FbClg contains the detection limits reached by the analysis. In most cases NAA is sensitive enough to give reliable result?. But where due to matrice effects or apeciiity of elements, it is not sensitive enough then AAS comes to the purpose, so the combination of the two methods proves very successful. One of the most serious problems ift the INAA of high purity materials is the purity of the packing material used for irradiation. In the analysis of BipO_ and PbCl., the repacking of the samples after irradiation is not possible since due to the radiation field in the active zone of the reactor the samples partially are destructed and as a result of this a new component is formed - elementary Bi and Pb. We used polyethylene as packing material which proved to be very suitable but it demands irradiation with lower fluxes. This choice was done not only because of its purity but because it permitted the determination of Al in Bi^O~, because of the interference nuclear reaction Si-28(n,p)Al-28 whicii takes place in quartz. It should be mentioned that in PbC^ due to the high matrice activity (Cl- J6) , Al, Oa.Cu and Mg cannot be determined by NAA. So the short irradiation (Fig.!) in the analysis of PbClg practically brings information jonly for Mn. The combination with AAS permits in thia case not only the determination of some of the mentioned elements but because Mn is also determined by AAS the snort irradiation in some cases may be omitted. Tiie results from the NAA and AAS of Bi2O» and PbCl are presented in Tab- le 2. Tne combineduse of both methods permits the determination of more than 20 elements and among them as such for which INAA is not sensitive enough ( Pb, Ni,Cd,Mo). Additionally this approach enabled to control the accuracy of the method by comparison of the obtained results from the two methods (Co,Cu,Fe,Mn, Zn) . This is very useful, since standard refernce materials for the analysis of high purity materials are not available. Among the elements in Table 2 there are some whose content is usually not normalized by the user. They were however determined mainly to demonstrate the possibilities of the combined use of NAA and AAS. At the same time they enable the producer to critically evaluate some technological steps /5/ as well as to meet, some specific requirements of different users. REFERENCES /I/ L.Pszonicki, A.N.Hanna, O.Suschny, Rep.IASA/RL/97 ( 1>983) . /2/ D.Apostolov, Nuclear Energy (Sofia), 5 (1976) 109. /}/ V.Dianovitch.D.Todorovsky.R.Djingova,I.Kuleff.Y.Yanev,J.Radioanal.Chem., 6J ( 1*81) 13. S.Arpadjon, A.Kojnarska, tt.Djingova, Fresenius Z.Anal.Chem., (in press). G.Giulmezova, Proc.Nat.Youth School "New Technology and Materials", Primorsko, 19dk (in press;. Table 1. iiadionuclides and gamma-lines Table 2. Hesults from IhAA and used by INAA.Detection limits AAS of Bi,0, and PbClo reached by the analysi s . 1 J c Ele- Radio- Gamma- JDetection limit (ng/g) Ele- Concentration (ng/g) HiiA 1 J/lA ment nucliuv xxne * Bt2°i PbCl2 in cut Bi2°3 PbCl2 Ag Ag- 1.10m 6 4 ± 657.7 Ag ^3 560 50 Al Al-28 1.778.8 12 N.D. Al i4oo - too N.D. As As-76 559.1. 1i. 1i 6.8 As 270 ± 30 23000 t5000 Au Au-1.98 411..8 0.9 0.01 Au 3.9 ±1.6 0.9 40.3 Ba Ba-l^l 496.3 4500 N.D. Ba ^5500 N.D. Br Br-82 776.5 0.6 19 Br 7*2 11*3 Oa Ca-49 3084.4 400 N.D. Ca <400 N.D. Od „ _ 15* 15' cd 35J2* 53 t 3" Ce Ce-t4t 145.5 0.6 0.5 Ce 15-3 2.1*0.4 Co-60 1332.5 0.07 0.06 0.1.4 - 0.04 0.85 * 0.12 Co 6* 6* Co Or Cr-51 320.1i 2 2 Cr 47 * 5 38 i 6 Cu-66 1039.0 80 N.D. < 80 N.D. Ou _ - 15* 15* uu 62* 3* 72 t 3* Pe Fe-59 129H.6 34 30 503* 120 11430 t 570 ' - - 125* 1.25* 500 t 25* 1i32Ot 160* lie He-197 $8.8 N.D. 0.6 He - 260 ± 90 K K-42 V524.7 1.1,00 1700 K 2900 t 1400 107000 * 20000 af Hf-162 482.2 3 N.D. La 1300 t 50 »9 i 3 L.a La- 1i4o 0,2 0.2 Mg -i 1500 N.D. Mg Mg-27 1l 0 T4 r ^ 97 N.D Mn 4 t 2^ 28 ± 5 Mn-56 Id11.2 0.06 5 _ *• 1.0 <1,60* MH. - 1.0* 1.60* Mo *: 500* N.D. Mo - - 500* N.D. Na 720 + 40 1.2000 ±1200 Na N&.-24 Nl 1ijt>8.5 k\ 9^ 25 t 1* 270 i 10* Ni _ Pb 36* 2" - i'b - - 30* _ Sb kit 18 4 I* Sb Sb-122 564.1. 1.3 0.9 180 * 40 90 1 20 Zn Zn-65 1115 20 N.D. 90110* 15* 1.5* Zr Zr-95 756.7 400 N.D.

N.D. = not. determined The data in the Table 2 are mean values from 3 parallel determinations K- determined by AAS and are characterized with the standard deviations ( Ji tr) . 63

DETERMINATION OF MERCURY CONTENT IN MILK POWDBR H. Iovtchev, T. Grigorov, D. Apostolov Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy Boul. Lenin 72, 1184 Sofia, Bulgaria INTRODUCTION The risks for human organism connected with tne increased content of mer- cury compounds in some foods require a systematic examination of the different components of diet. Along with the particularly Important control of the concentration of oeroury in certain products (fishes, mushrooms, some animal internal organs) about whioh general accumulation of the element is established and a compari- son with the existing nowns of content is necessary, for the elucidation of the total mercury exposition, it is neeeesary to analyze products with compa- ratively low Hg concentration but with a high relative share in human nutri- tion (e.g. flour, milk and products from them) /1-4/. In this respect it is interesting to examine humanized milks which during a certain period of human life - in mixed and artificial feeding of new-boras and sucklings - are the basic and almost the only possible food. EXPERIMENTAL lea ized full cream cow milk powder for new-borns (sample A: Bebe 0), sucklings (sample Bt Bebe 1) and small children (sample C: Vitalact 2); bio- logically soured milk powder (sample D: Biolacton). The samples weighing 300-500 mg are activated for 18-24 hours in a neu- tron flux

A 5.1 + 2.1 3.6 7.3 B 5.8 + 2.3 3.4 7.6 C 7.2 ± 3.1 4.3 8.7 D 6.8 + 2.3 4.7 8.4

Table Is Concentration of mercury in milk powder /ppb/

Refe- [Hg] rencs (ppb)

hi 5 1 12 IM 10 3 29 IMX 0.6 4 157* 5 8 lllx 20 25 la/* 0.1 1 lit 70 180 hoi 2.5 (IASA-A-11)

1 - Values for Hg concentrations in freBh milk

Table 2t Comparison of mercury concentrations in milk powder and in fresh milk

CONCLUSION The results show concentrations of mercury in the analysed humanized full cream cow milk powder considerably under the recommended by WHO Taluea for food products* At the measurement one must exclude the contribution of Se-75 in the peak area of Hg-203 at 279.1 keV. The method applied gives a possibility to determine mercury by compa- ratively simple radiochemioal prooedure. This la very important in case of large number of analyses for assessment of human organism burden with this toxlo element through food products. REFERENCES /1/. R. Sohelenz, J.-E. Diehl: Z. Anal. Chenu, 26£, (1973) 93 /2/. R. Schelenz, J.-E. Diehl: Z. Lebanon. Unters.-Forscto., 15J. (1973) 369 1S3 (1973) 151 /3/. 0. Birke, et al.: Arch. Envir. Health, 2£ (1972) 77 /4/« K. Heine, A. Wiechen: Milohwissenschaft, 2J, (1972) 688 /5/. J. Huzicka, C.G. Lammt Talanta, 16 (1969) 157 /6/. L.J. Qoldwater: Soi. American, 257 (1971) 15i cit. in /4/ lit, B. Weigand-EschraghiB, et al.t HBB. VerBff. Nr.1 Mercury; cit. in /4/ IB I, J.J.H. de Qceji, et al.: Symp, USA (1972) SE 157/8 191. R. E. Jerves, et al.: ASD-Conf. (1970) 349-002; oit. in /4/ /TO/. R, H. Parr: IAEA/RL/103, September 1983 Simple and fast determination of Rb and Cs in mineralized waters. E.Taskaev Institute ofNuclear Research & Nuclear Energy, boul.Lenin No72, 11B4-Sofia For the technological control of mineralized uaters processing a simple and fast method for Rb and Cs determination uas proposed. The direct determination is rather difficult because of the very high content of Br,Na, Fe and etc* Sodium tetraphenyl borate (Kalignost) uas USBC) for the precipi- tation of Rb and Cs (i). Experimental Tuo 20 ml portions from each uater sample uere used for the determination one for the Rb and the other for the Cs. The pH of the samples had to be about 7. Precipitation of Rb and Cs uas carried out uith 0.11*1 solution of Kalignost* Its quantity depended on NH4, K, Rb and Cs content in the sample. The precipitate uas filtrated, washed uith 0.011*1 Kalignost solution and slightly dried with air, passing through it. Then the precipitate uas packed in polythene capsule. Solutions of RbN03 and CSNO3 uere used as comparative standards. Samples and standards uere irradiated in one of the vertical channels of IRT-2000 reactor in Sofia using pneumotube with 1.5mm Cd filter (2). Epithermal neutron flux uas 10.10'° n.cm—2.s-1. Irradiation time uas 1. min for Rb and 5 min for Cs. 86m-Rb (T1/2=1.O1B min Ev =555.8 kev) and 134m-Cs (Ti/2=2.9 h E =127.4 kev) uere used as analytical isotopes. Cooling and counting times for Rb uere 30 s and 200s. Cooling and counting times for Cs .uere 2-3h and 300s respectively. Y-Spectrometer uith GeLi and multichannel analyser uas used. Interference of B2-Br (Ti/2=35.4h Ej"=554.3 kev) uas checked. It turned out to be negligible in the described conditions. Some preliminary tracer experiments uith 134-Cs and 86-Rb uere carried out to establish the chemical yield of the precipitation. The yields uere rather high and if soma flagrant errors had not been made, it uas 87—13% for Rb and 92-8%for Cs. Since the procedure included only one step precipitation, the rough errors could be obvious and could be eliminated easily. And in the case of technological control, the chemical yield, accepted from the tracer experiments, uas considered to be sufficiently accurate. Carrier free 137-Cs could be usad for more precise control of chemical yield if necessary. Results and discussion The proposed method uas used for the determination of Rb and Cs in highly mineralized underground uaters and sea lye. As the one step precipi- tation uas not enough to remove the sodium comletely, irradiation uith epithermal neutrons reduced the 24-Na activity in the sample and improved the counting conditions. The quantitation limits from 20 ml samples uere 14.10~6 g/l and 8.10"6 g/l for Rb and Cs respectively. The possibility of Ag determination should be mentioned, and the sensitivity is higher when 110-Ag (T1/2=24S Ek*=657 kev) uas used, instead of 108-Ag (T1/2=2.41 min E^=633 kev).

Reference

1. "Analytical chemistry of Rb and Cs", Nauka (1975) Floscou, pp59-61 ( in russion ) 2. Apostolov D., Nuclear Energy, 3 (1976) 109-111 ( in bulgarian ) DO

GAMMA - 8PECTR0METRIC SYSTEM BASED ON PERSONAL COMPUTER "PRAVETS-83" K.Janaklev, L. Tomdiv, T.Grigorov, M.Vutchkov Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy Boul.Lenin 72, 1184 Sofia, Bulgaria INTRODUCTION Gamma spectrometry is an attractive technique for elemental analysis, especially for multjcompo-'nent speciments. The neutron activation analysis is one of the most sensitive analytical methods wridely used by now in sfci- ence as w-ell as in industry. A gamma spectrometric system based on a personal microcomputer "Pravets^ -83 " has been developed in the Institute .-for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy. The distinctive peculiarity of the proposed system is that the multi- phanel analyair is realized on the personal microcomputer, which gives thegos- iifeility. the system to work in real time. HARDWARE OP THE SYSTEM The system includes all blocks of Jthe spectroraetric tract - from prea- mplifier to computer for data processing. The preamplifier is in parallel way conected with vlth the detector pow» er supply and has the following characteristics: - noise at zero capacity of the output - 0.7 kev for 3 «fsj - slope of the noise characteristic - 15 ev/pf; / - sensitivity - 90mv/Mev; - maximum charge - 100000 I:.ip./s. The linear part of the spectrometer includes: 1.High-voltage source for power supply of semiconductor detectors. It has the following characteristic: - range of power supply - 0 • £ 5000 v with internal selection of the polarity; "" - maximum output current - 100 uk\ - working temperature interval -from 10 C till 35 C; - the source is efficiently protected against overcharging of the preamplifier at voltage leaping. - a special electron eheme controls the level of the output signal and in this way the source is protected. 2. Spectrometric amplifier with the followihg characteristics* - gain range - from 20 till 1500; - shaping time constant - 1, 2, 3, 6us; - nowise at the input - 6 T; - temperature gain shift - 0,01% / C ; for the temperature diapason fom 0 till 50°CS - integral nonlinearity - 0,1%. The regeneration of the zero line is strobable with the functional thre- shold defined by the noise level. The multichannel analyser is based on the personal computer."Pravets"- 83", Bulgarian production, which is analog to Apple II.Analogue digital converter (ADC^Canberra" model 8075 with 8192 channels and 100 MHz time frequency is used. The ADC data are accumulated directly into the computer memory through Direct memory access (DMA) controller with increment time of the memory 2*s. The volume of the operational memory necessary for spectrum accumulation is 12K, The form of the recorded data ( number of channels and capacity) depends on the number and the type of used ADC. The computer can operate to 4 ADC. Thle system can control the following types of peripperipheral l devices* - metric printer of lipson RX80 on which accumulated spectrum can be pri- nted in letter, figure and profile type ( fig.1); - digital plotter VATANABE type on which the spectrum and itB processing by the applied programmes is drawn graphically; - two floppydisc devices with bilateral record and double density; - Full compatibility is ensured with the computer Apple II and hardware and software extensions. SOFTWARE OF THE SYSTEM The computer based multichannel analyzer is equipped with system software including the following modules: - spectrum vizualization in linear and logarithmic scale which can be 67

Pig.1 - Tipical gamma spec- trum accumulate by proposed system without background subtraction.

Fig.1

3072 Pig.2 - The same gamma spec- ; 2,. 4 trum with background subtra- ction by method of Gunning.

SEC 0000

Pig. 2 change* along X and Y coordinates, simultaneous vizualization of two spectra, region of interest; - programme GAMMA-X which 1B desined for complete analysis of a Ge - Li type gamma spectrum. Gamma - X takes 4096 channels spectra. It has been opti- mized for o,5 Kev / channel and a detector resolution of 2.7 Kev at energy 1332 Kev. Gamma-X detects peaks, peak boundaries, peak widths and multiplet structures with a convolution technique based on a square wave convolute. Two important calibrations are required in order for Gamma-X to be able to analyse spectra from different gamma spectrometers systems: parameters for conventiona]lchannel units to energy and parameters describing the system reso- lutions as a function of energy. These calibrations have to be carried out for energy detector system. In order to compensate for small gain shifts, two monitor peaks are used ( 59.5 Kev peak of Am - 241 and 1332 Kev of Co - 60 ). The statistical significance of the transform results is tested to eliminate spdrioue peaks by using a two - standard deviation criterion. The next step is to locate the peaks by scanning down in the contrast spectrum for nonzero values.The edges of the peak are searched in the square wave convolut spectrum in the negative region. The background is computed as a staight - line functi- on between the peak edges hy using a 3-channel average for the peak - edge count. The continium subtraction technique is based on the method of Gunning- Philippot. For resolving overlapping peak structure a partial - stripping decomposition method is usred, restricting overlap region to 3 channels. Pig.2 and 3 show a tipical gamma specrum obtained from the primary coolant circuit of APS "Kozloduy" before and after its treatment. The sequence of spetrum treatwwat with built in siBtematical programs can be given at routin work of the analyzer. 68

The programme languages for the user's software are BASIC, FORTRAN, PASCAL, PILOT. 50 The spectrometer is tested with standard source Co and shows the following exploatation characteristics: - resolution PWHM for an energy 1332 kev - 2.7 kev; - shifting of the peak at charging with 50000 counts per second - © 0.03%; - shaping time --3- Microseconds. CONCLUSION Gamma - spectre-metric system was developed and the prototype was tested. The results are comparable with these received by comercialy available equipment. The main advantage of t'he suggested system is that it is not necessaxxy to transfere the data fr.om the multichannal anlyzer to the memory of the computer. OQMPUTATIOHAL DBSORIPTIOH 0? VAST VSUTRGB ACTIVATION DATA Marileaa Avrlgeanu, H* Ivaaou Inatitute for Physios and Nuclear lagineerlng Buohareat-Magurele, P.O.Box 1IG-6, 76900 Romania 7. Avrigeanu Inatitute for ffuolear Power ficaotors Piteeti, Romania INTRQDUOTIQH following the developaent of aorc Intense aouroes of 14 MsV neutrons la the past faw ysara, there baa been growing laterest la the lnatrumental aulti- • eltaeat faat-neutron aotivatioa analysis (ISAA). It ia haped that ths FIAA oau complement the thermal-neutron aotivatioa analyaia (TNAA) for certain typea of analytioal problaia /!/• faat-neutron reaotloaa prooaad along thraa relatively atroag reaction ohanaalai (a,p), (a««C) and (n 2n). However, the ezperiaental oroaa-seetion data baaia of praotical uae ia( aotivatioa analysis la rather scarce (e.g./2/). An aoourate theoretioal daaorlptloa of thsae reactions ia aa uaeful alternate way to aupport FHAA* Tha sala taak la perforaing auoh theoretioal oaloulatioas of fast-neutron oroaa aaotioas froa threahold up to 20 1ST, baaad on the* atatiatioal model (Bauaer-feshbaoh STAPB1 ooda) and the preequllibrium deoay geometry dspeadaat hybrid Model, are presented la tbJ.a contribution. The appropriate onoioe of conaiateat aata of input parameters, free of adjuatabla parameters aa muoh aa possible aad uaed la an unitary way, achieved through analysis of Independent data, has great ly determined the aoouraoy of this approach /3/. The (n,p) aad (n,2n) reactions on 92-Ho have been ohoaen to illustrate our goal, as molybde- aua ia aa important fualoa technology aatorial aa wall aa biological tiaauaa ooapoaaat whoae oonteat determination through TNAA haa already been carried oat/4/. NUOUtAE MODIL PAHAIBT1RS Optical model parameters (OHP) aet for neutrons ware ohoaen by tha SPRT method /5/. By aaalyalng the oaloulatad a - aad - p wave atreagth functions, poteatlal aoattering radiua, total oroaa aeotions between 1.5 and 5«J» MeV, shape elaatio aoattering oroaa aeotions up to 4 lev againat the available ex- perimental data, tha Lane ooaalataat OHP daduoed by Lagrange /6/ proved to be the moat appropriate for lio* Tha proton OMP of Johnaon at al. /7/ with tha energy dapaadaaoe auggea- ted by Tiigrange /8/ have baaa adopted following the analyaia of the reaction oroaa-aeotiona for both the ayatem p + 93-Hb aad tha 9?-iBb(p,n)93-*o reaotioa up to 5*5 HaV. Alpha-partiole aad dautaron OUP obtained from data ftta in this aaaa aad energy range /9|1O/ have alao been uaed. QaamaHray transmiaalon ooaffloiaata wara baaed on tha abaolute 1 1 gamma ray atrength functions generated by Beans of the energy-dependent Breit-flgaar (*Bt) aodel /ll/. B J ™ Tha nuolear level density ahould ba differently traatad aooordiag to tha following thraa ezoitatioa taergy regiona. iTLow axoitation energies (l*s© 2 ta 4 HaV) delimited by tha maxlmua axoitatlon energy wart almoat all the dlaorete levela KM believed to ba wall known froa experimeats. « II. Maditta excitation energies (?^I ^ 10 HoV) la the definition domain of the aemiempirioal Back-Shifted lermi Gas (BSfG) model. Ita parametera (the leve-l densit- -• y paramete- r a aaand the baok-ahlftabad — d- A* of.. th. a grouad-atatejuad-atat k) are ea- tabllahed by the ouaulatlve auaber-of low energ__y dlaorete levelivela anaad the ave- rage nuolaoa reaonanoresonance apaoiaga V*?v* *•. Tha fittad values of theae paraaetera to the aoat raoaat experimental data are aometinea readjusted mainly when the ex- perimental data baaia waa rather soaroe. III. High, excitation aaarglea (E*£? 10 MeV), where the B8VG parametrlsa- tlon fails gradually aa tha atrong shell affaota observed ia the level density paraaeter A »t lowar enarglaa dlaaappaar with the iaoreaaa la exoltation. la this oonneotion, Ignatyuk at al* /12/ have introduced an energy dependent le- vel daaaity parameter a (1*), atartlng from the experimental evidence of a oloae oorreapoadenoe between the a. valuta derived from the neutron reaonanoe data and the experimental shell correction