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THE DETERMINATION OF BERYLLIUM BY THE PHOTONEUTRON METHOD

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4214769

A study was made of a method for the determination of beryllium based on measurement of the photoneutron flux produced on irradiating the sample with photons from a Sb/sup 124/ source. The behavior of many other elements in this determination has been studied in both solid samples and aqueous solutions. Interferences are small, except for some elements with high cross sections for thermal neutrons, including boron, cadmium, samarium, and gadolinium. Large concentrations of deuterium can cause a small positive error due to the 0.2% of 2.3 Mev photons from Sb/sup 124/. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of beryllia in selected minerals, including hand picked beryls and beryl pegmatites. Concentrate and tailing fraction produced in the mineral dressing treatment of an ore have also been analyzed for BeO content by this method. With suitable samples a considerable saving of time is gained over chemical methods of analysis. Under the best conditions the lower limit of detection of the method is <0.002% BeO. (auth)

Research Organization:
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Research Group. Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Berks, England
NSA Number:
NSA-13-018875
OSTI ID:
4214769
Report Number(s):
AERE-R-2965
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English