An activation product is a material that has been made radioactive by the process of neutron activation.

Fission products and actinides produced by neutron absorption of nuclear fuel itself are normally referred to by those specific names, and activation product reserved for products of neutron capture by other materials, such as structural components of the nuclear reactor or nuclear bomb, the reactor coolant, control rods or other neutron poisons, or materials in the environment. All of these, however, need to be handled as radioactive waste. Some nuclides originate in more than one way, as activation products or fission products.

Activation products in a reactor's primary coolant loop are a main reason reactors use a chain of two or even three coolant loops linked by heat exchangers.

Fusion reactors will not produce radioactive waste from the fusion product nuclei themselves, which are normally just helium-4, but generate high neutron fluxes, so activation products are a particular concern.

Activation product radionuclides include:

Half-lives and decay branching fractions for activation products[1]
NuclideHalf-lifeDecay modebranching fractionSourceNotes
3
1
H
12.312 ± 0.025 yβ1.0LNHB
10
4
Be
( 1.51 ± 0.06 ) x 106 yβ1.0ENSDF
14
6
C
( 5.7 ± 0.03 ) x 103 yβ1.0LNHB
15
6
C
2.449 ± 0.005 sβ1.0ENSDF
16
7
N
7.13 ± 0.02 sβ1.0ENSDF
19
8
O
26.88 ± 0.05 sβ1.0ENSDF
22
11
Na
950.57 ± 0.23 dEC0.1011 ± 0.0002aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
β+0.8989 ± 0.0002a
24
11
Na
0.62329 ± 0.00006 dβ1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
27
12
Mg
9.458 ± 0.012 mβ1.0ENSDF
26
13
Al
( 7.17 ± 0.24 ) x 105 yEC0.1825 ± 0.0023bLNHB[2]
β+0.8175 ± 0.0023b
35
16
S
87.32 ± 0.16 dβ1.0LNHB
36
17
Cl
( 0.01 ± 0.03 ) x 105 yEC0.019 ± 0.001LNHB
β0.981 ± 0.001
39
18
Ar
269 ± 3 yβ1.0ENSDF
41
18
Ar
109.61 ± 0.04 mβ1.0ENSDF
40
19
K
( 4.563 ± 0.013 ) x 1011 dEC0.1086 ± 0.0013aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
β0.8914 ± 0.0013a
42
19
K
12.36 ± 0.012 hβ1.0ENSDF
41
20
Ca
( 1.02 ± 0.07 ) x 105 yEC1.0ENSDF
45
20
Ca
162.61 ± 0.09 dβ1.0ENSDF
47
21
Sc
3.3492 ± 0.0006 dβ1.0ENSDF
48
21
Sc
43.67 ± 0.09 hβ1.0ENSDF
51
24
Cr
27.7009 ± 0.002 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
54
25
Mn
312.29 ± 0.26 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
56
25
Mn
0.107449 ± 0.000019 dβ1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
55
26
Fe
( 1.0027 ± 0.0023 ) x 103 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
59
26
Fe
44.494 ± 0.013 dβ1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
57
27
Co
271.8 ± 0.05 dEC1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
58
27
Co
70.86 ± 0.06 dβ+0.15 ± 0.0020aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
EC0.85 ± 0.0020a
60
27
Co
( 1.92523 ± 0.00027 ) x 103 dβ1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
59
28
Ni
( 7.6 ± 0.5 ) x 104 yEC1.0ENSDF
63
28
Ni
98.7 ± 2.4 yβ1.0LNHB
65
28
Ni
2.51719 ± 0.00026 hβ1.0ENSDF
64
29
Cu
0.52929 ± 0.00018 dβ+0.179 ± 0.002aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
β0.39 ± 0.003a
EC0.431 ± 0.005a
66
29
Cu
5.12 ± 0.014 mβ1.0ENSDF
65
30
Zn
243.86 ± 0.2 dβ+0.0142 ± 0.0001aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
EC0.9858 ± 0.0001a
93m
41
Nb
( 5.73 ± 0.22 ) x 103 dIT1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
93
42
Mo
( 4.0 ± 0.8 ) x 103 yEC1.0ENSDF
99m
43
Tc
0.250281 ± 0.000022 dβ0.000037 ± 0.000006aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
IT0.999963 ± 0.000006a
110m
47
Ag
249.85 ± 0.1 dIT0.0136 ± 0.0008aIAEA-CRP-XG[1]
β0.9864 ± 0.0008a
115m
49
In
4.486 ± 0.004 hβ0.05 ± 0.008ENSDF
IT0.95 ± 0.008
126
53
I
12.93 ± 0.05 dβ0.473 ± 0.006ENSDF
EC0.527 ± 0.006
175
72
Hf
70 ± 2 dEC1.0ENSDF
181
72
Hf
42.39 ± 0.06 dβ1.0ENSDF
182
73
Ta
114.43 ± 0.04 dβ1.0ENSDF
181
74
W
121.2 ± 0.2 dEC1.0ENSDF
185
74
W
75.1 ± 0.3 dβ1.0ENSDF
187
74
W
23.72 ± 0.06 hβ1.0ENSDF
198
79
Au
2.695 ± 0.0007 dβ1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
197
80
Hg
64.14 ± 0.05 hEC1.0ENSDF
203
80
Hg
46.594 ± 0.012 dβ1.0IAEA-CRP-XG
LNHB Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel, Recommended Data, http://www.nucleide.org/DDEP_WG/DDEPdata.htm Archived 2021-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, 5 June 2008.
IAEA-CRP-XG M.-M. Bé, V.P. Chechev, R. Dersch, O.A.M. Helene, R.G. Helmer, M. Herman, S. Hlav ác, A. Marcinkowski, G.L. Molnár, A.L. Nichols, E. Schönfeld, V.R. Vanin, M.J. Woods, IAEA CRP "Update of X Ray and Gamma Ray Decay Data Standards for Detector Calibration and Other Applications", IAEA Scientific and Technical Information report STI/PUB/1287, May 2007, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, ISBN 92-0-113606-4.
ENSDF Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File, http://www-nds.iaea.org/ensdf/, 5 June 2008.

[1] Branching fractions from LNHB database.

[2] Branching fractions renormalised to sum to 1.0..


References

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


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