Nuclear decay data

Kocher, D. C. (1977). Nuclear Decay Data for Radionuclides Occurring in Routine Releases from Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities, Report No. ORNL/NUREG/TM-102 (National Technical Information Service, Spring-field, Virginia). 

REI85b]. C. W. Reich, "Nuclear Decay Data Some Applications and Needs", invited paper included in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Data for Basic and Applied Science, Santa Fe, NM, 13-17 May, 1985 (to be published). 

Frequent calibration of the instruments with the use of appropriate standards is required to make suitable allowances for decreases in the efficiency of the instruments. Such calibration standards are available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Other sources traceable to NIST standards through active program of participation in comparison measurements also provide such standards. The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) also provides nuclear decay data for new calibration standard. USP 24 lists t j2, energy of photons, and number of photons per disintegrations, for the following radionuclide standards ... 

ECKERMAN, K.F., WESTFALL, R.J., RYMAN, J.C., CRISTY, M., Nuclear Decay Data Files of the Dosimetry Research Group, Rep. ORNL/TM-12350, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (1993). 

Nuclear decay data from Browne and Firestone (1986)... 

The following is currently the best single-volume complete compilation of nuclear decay data. (More information on sources of data, printed and Internet, are given in Appendix A) ... 

Smith, D. and Woods, S.A (1995). Recommended Nuclear Decay Data, NPL Report RSA(EXT)53, National Physical Laboratory, Taddiugton, UK. Data for 53 nuclides taken from JEF 2, UKPADD and ENSDF databases. Does not include the TECDOC-619 nuclides. Superseded by DDEP. 

Acquisition of free induction decay data during the time interval m which the equi librium distribution of nuclear spins is restored... 

Nuclear Data Sheets, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., TvaluatedNuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF), a computer database of nuclear stmcture data evaluated by an international network of evaluators, is maintained at the National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory. NUDNTis a computer database of decay data extracted from the ENSDF. 

There are two iridium isotopes, ir and Ir, suitable for Mossbauer spectroscopy. Each of them possesses two nuclear transitions with which nuclear resonance absorption has been observed. Figure 7.58 (from [266]) shows the (simplified) nuclear decay schemes for both iridium Mossbauer isotopes the Mossbauer transitions are marked therein with bold arrows. The relevant nuclear data known to date for the four Mossbauer transitions are collected in Table 7.1 at the end of the book. 

In this paper, we discuss several categories of decay data which have contributed to low-energy nuclear physics, indicate some of the ways they are useful in solving problems in other areas and identify needs for further measurements. Illustrations include half-life and emission-probability data of actinide nuclides important for reactor technology and useful as reference standards for nuclear-data measurements. Decay data of highly neutron-rich fission-product nuclides are important in such diverse areas as astrophysics and reactor-safety research. Some of these data needs and experimental approaches suitable for satisfying them are presented. 

In any discussion of decay data and their applications, the following should be kept in mind. In spite of their wide applicability, the primary motivation for their measurement has largely been the information which they provide for low-energy nuclear physics. The extensive measurement activity in this area over the past three decades or so has produced a large amount of fairly detailed data on the decay properties of unstable nuclei. 

To adequately treat these many applications and to illustrate the specific ways in which decay data make useful, if not crucial, contributions to them is a task that lies beyond the space and time limitations of this paper. We have thus chosen to limit the scope of this presentation to the discussion of several selected examples, drawn mostly from the area of fission-reactor physics. These include the results of recent significant developments in actinide-nuclide decay data and, in the spirit of this symposium, decay data of fission-product nuclides off the line of p stability and some of the problems and challenges they present to both experimental capabilities and nuclear theory. 

Because of their intimate link with energy production in nuclear reactors, fission products and their nuclear data have long occupied an important position in reactor technology. In recent years, interest in short-lived fission-product decay data has increased markedly, as their relevance to different areas of research and technology has become recognized. In addition to their importance for estimation of the fission-product decay-heat source term in nuclear reactors, the increasing attention being focused on the assessment of the hazards associated with the release, transport and... 

Actinide half-lives, as standards for nuclear data measurements, 95-96 Actinide-nuclide decay data,... 

The experimental and theoretical problems of the oc decay are discussed in more detail, e.g., in the following books and review articles Hanna (1959), Hyde et al. (1964), Mang (1964), Rasmussen (1965), Marmier and Sheldon (1969), Mukhin (1974), Lovas et al. (1998). Experimentally determined nuclear structure and decay data have been evaluated and are included in the ENSDF (Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File) database (http //www.nndc.bnl.gov/ ensdf). 

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