Measurement of decay heat in neutron irradiated 197Au foil using whole energy absorption spectrometer

Abstract

In a nuclear reactor, heat generated by the decay of fission products and radioactive materials is called decay heat or decay power. For measuring decay heat from radioactive samples, bismuth germanate scintillators based whole energy absorption spectrometer was commissioned recently. To standardize it, decay heat from neutron irradiated 197Au foil was measured from 7 min to 480 h. In this cooling period the decay heat reduced from 1668 ± 12.5 to 10 ± 1.8 pW. The measurements were compared with the predictions and the C/E ratios were found to be < 1.10. The fractional decay power contributions from betas and gammas for 198Au were obtained through the measurements and estimations. This work provided experience for planning irradiation and measuring time for further experiments with reactor structural materials and actinides.