Half-life of /sup 241/Pu

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1981 · Phys. Rev., C; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.23.1748· OSTI ID:6521294

Aggarwal, S K; Acharya, S N; Parab, A R; Jain, H C

The half-life of /sup 241/Pu was determined by studying the ingrowth of /sup 241/Am in two independent sets of experiments: (i) by ..cap alpha.. spectrometry taking /sup 242/Pu as well as /sup 239/Pu and /sup 240/Pu as reference isotopes, and (ii) by ..cap alpha.. proportional counting. In these experiments, separate synthetic mixtures, prepared by mixing different isotopes of plutonium, were used with an objective of obtaining periodically a desired change in the ..cap alpha.. activity ratio (as in ..cap alpha.. spectrometry) or in the total ..cap alpha.. activity (as in ..cap alpha.. proportional counting) and to measure this change with high precision and accuracy. In ..cap alpha.. spectrometry, from the 65 measurements carried out on five electrodeposited sources over a period of 574 days, a value of 14.37 +- 0.09 yr was obtained for the half-life of /sup 241/Pu. In the ..cap alpha.. proportional counting, from the 20 measurements carried out on five sources over a period of 704 days, a value of 14.50 +- 0.08 yr was obtained. The average of these two independent determinations leads to a value of 14.44 +- 0.06 yr for the half-life of /sup 241/Pu. The uncertainty quoted on the values is a combination of one standard deviation on the average value and the error evaluated from estimates on various error components. The half-life obtained in this work is in good agreement with the results reported earlier from this laboratory by ..cap alpha.. spectrometry, taking /sup 239/Pu and /sup 240/Pu as reference isotopes as well as with the preliminary results reported by other laboratories using different methods.

• Research Organization: Radiochemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Bombay-400 085, India
• OSTI ID: 6521294
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev., C; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev., C; (United States) Vol. 23:4; ISSN PRVCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

652022* -- Nuclear Properties & Reactions
A=220 & above
Experimental-- Radioactive Decay-- (-1987)
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DATA
DECAY
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HALF-LIFE
HEAVY NUCLEI
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM 241
PLUTONIUM 242
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES