THE DETERMINATION OF BERYLLIUM BY THE PHOTONEUTRON METHOD

Technical Report · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1959

OSTI ID:4214769

Milner, G W.C.; Edwards, J W

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

Related Subjects

ANTIMONY 124
BERYLLIUM
BERYLLIUM COMPOUNDS
BERYLLIUM OXIDES
BORON
CADMIUM
CHEMISTRY
DEUTERIUM
ERRORS
GADOLINIUM
IRRADIATION
MINERALS
NEUTRON FLUX
ORES
PHOTONEUTRONS
PHOTONS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIATION SOURCES
SAMARIUM
SOLIDS
SOLUTIONS
THERMAL NEUTRONS
TRACE AMOUNTS
USES
WATER