Abstract
We focus on identifying quantitatively the effects on activation measurements due to temporal variations of the neutron flux. Irradiations in the carousel facility (CF) of the TRIGA reactor at the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) for core No. 176 (April 2002) and current core No. 189 (June 2006), are discussed for illustration. The flux measurements are based on neutron detectors (ionisation chambers), outside the graphite reflector. The variations of the neutron flux produce a systematic error in the results obtained by the neutron activation analysis by the k 0-standardization method, which assumes constant conditions during irradiation. The results of our study show that for a typical irradiation of 20 h in the channels of the CF, aligned in the direction of the ionisation chamber (safety channel), the temporal variation of the neutron flux is about 6−8%. In the k 0 method, which we are using for routine work at the JSI, this variation introduced a systematic error in the results after long irradiation of 20 h up to 5%, depending on the half-life of the investigated radionuclide.
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