The determination of nitrogen in zirconium and zircaloy

Several nuclear reactions have been used for the determination of nitrogen in zirconium. 

The samples were irradiated for 3 min with a 0.5 mA beam of up to 5.5 MeV deuterons. Lead nitrate was used as a standard. 

Before and after the irradiation, the samples were etched in a 1.2 % solution of hydrofluoric acid at room temperature to remove a 3.5 f m surface layer. 

0 was separated as carbon monoxide by reducing fusion in a graphite crucible, using palladium as a bath metal. Operating conditions were as follows  

The samples and the standards were measured with a Ge(Li) detector. In- 

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IS satisfactory. The precision obtained by the N(p,a) C reaction (ca 3 %) is however significantly better. The latter procedure (49) is therefore recommended for the determination of nitrogen in zirconium and zircaloy by charged particle activation analysis. 

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