Activation products are materials made radioactive by
neutron activation.
Fission products
Nuclear fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large atomic nucleus undergoes nuclear fission. Typically, a large nucleus like that of uranium fissions by splitting into two smaller nuclei, along with a few neutrons, the release ...
and
actinides produced by
neutron absorption of
nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission.
Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...
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
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both 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:
Branching fractions from LNHB database.
Branching fractions renormalised to sum to 1.0..
References
External links
Handbook on Nuclear Activation Cross-Sections, IAEA, 1974*
ttps://www-nds.iaea.org/sgnucdat/safeg2008.pdf HANDBOOK OF NUCLEAR DATA FOR SAFEGUARDS: DATABASE EXTENSIONS, AUGUST 2008
Radiation
Neutron
Radiation effects
Nuclear materials
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