Abstract
Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a useful method to determine the concentration of trace elements in biological samples. But it has its special problems and error sources. An extensive study was performed to prove that weight loss affects both accuracy and precision of NAA based on post-irradiation weights. Weight losses of 5 ± 3% and 14 ± 7% (mean ± SD) were observed after irradiating blood and its main components for more than 12 h with thermal neutron fluxes of about 1014n · cm−2 · s−1 in two reactors with different cooling facilities. These losses were flux-dependent, but independent of irradiation time, sample donor, type and size, and post-irradiation time and handling. In order to avoid this NAA-specific error elemental concentrations should be based on pre-irradiation weights.
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