Measurement of toxic heavy metals by neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) was used to identify explicitly the causative agent in a case of suspected heavy element poisoning of livestock that conventional diagnostic techniques left unclear. NAA, using neutrons from a TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor and a 25-cc germanium lithium-drifted semiconductor detector, sequentially revealed the absence of toxic concentrations of mercury in liver and kidney tissues of an affected carcass, then the absence of toxic amounts of arsenic, and finally the presence of antimony in quantities sufficient to have killed livestock.