Progrès de la recherche en sciences appliquées Libre accès

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Preliminary studies on the performance of Ghana’s MNSR neutron fluxes in reactor neutron activation analysis after the addition of a beryllium shim

Aaron N. Adazabraa, Apori Ntiforo and Benjamin J.B. Nyarko

An accurate knowledge of the neutron fluxes in MNSRs core after any reconfiguration is of paramount importance to achieving reliable results in RNAA regardless of the methodology used for determining the elemental concentrations. A plethora of reliable analytical results can therefore be exclusively linked to a fruitful assessment of the stability, reproducibility and the extent of thermalization of the neutron fluxes for RNAA. Hence, two different matrix standards NIST SRM 1571, Orchard leaves representing a biological standard and NIST SRM 1632, Coal representing an environmental standard, were analyzed in order to test the performance of GHARR – 1 neutron fluxes after configurational changes to the core in the single comparator mode. The precision and trueness of the results were generally found to be within 6% at 99% confidence interval of certified values - confirming the suitability of GHARR – 1 neutron fluxes in RNAA after core changes