Abstract
We present a new activation method based on the 19F(n,2n)18F reaction using fast neutrons produced by a p(19 MeV) + Be accelerator-driven fast neutron source providing continuous neutron spectrum up to 17 MeV with a neutron fluence rate of approximately 9 × 1010 cm−2 s−1 at a 12-µA proton beam current. We describe elimination of interferences in measurement of 18F, a pure positron emitter with T1/2 = 1.83 h. We present results of fluorine determination for several biological and environmental reference materials with the new procedure and compare them with those achieved by other methods in terms of limits of detection, accuracy and precision, where available.
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Acknowledgements
This work was carried out within the Centre of Accelerator and Nuclear Analytical Methods (CANAM) Infrastructure supported by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) Project LM2015056. The authors also thank to an anonymous referee for suggestions for improvement of the manuscript, especially for the comment on a possible upgrade of the sample irradiation environment.
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Kučera, J., Štefánik, M. & Veselka, P. Fluorine determination in biological and environmental samples with INAA using fast neutrons from a p(19 MeV) + Be neutron generator. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 322, 1517–1523 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06735-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06735-y