Dear Colleagues,

In your geological and geochemical research or analytical practices, you may have experienced situations where standard, nowadays conventional analytical methods are ineffective in the assay of some elements or generally unsuitable for various reasons. You may have needed to analyze the bulk of your sample where the conventional nondestructive surface analysis would not provide a representative image of your sample while you may have wished to save your precious (and often tiny) sample for further analysis and not destroy it by fusion or dissolution. You may not have felt confident about the complete dissolution of your analyte, about its potential loss or contamination, and not quite acquainted with possible matrix effects and interferences in the final (usually spectrometric) analytical method. Some thirty years ago you would probably look no further than the nearest nuclear research center and ask for help from an activation analysis department. Nowadays, in the post-Chornobyl and post-Fukushima era, this may be not your first choice. You may need to look abroad for an activation analysis lab which is still in operation. In a worse case, if you are a student or junior scientist, you may not have been taught sufficiently to see the potential of these analytical methods.

This Special Issue invites you - geologists, geochemists, and radio analysts - who would like to share your experience in the application of activation techniques in your research and analytical practice. You may introduce your facilities and procedures and offer them to your colleagues. You may fill the educational gaps which should be appreciated by both teachers and students in the geoscience field. Although the title of the Special Issue is limited to neutron and photon activation, contributions on activation methods with other irradiation sources such as charged particles or on related radioanalytical methods (PGAA, ion beam techniques) are welcome as well. Also, environment-oriented studies, e.g., from the fields of environmental and urban geology and geochemistry, are welcome.

Dr. Jiří Mizera
Prof. Dr. Atef El-Taher
Guest Editors

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• INAA
• IPAA
• RNAA
• PGAA
• geochemical analysis
• multielement analysis
• Major and trace element analysis
• ultra-trace analysis
• nondestructive analysis
• bulk sample analysis
• in situ exploration
• borehole activation analysis
• comparator method
• CCQM primary ratio method
• self-validating potential
• environmental geology and geochemistry
• urban geology and geochemistry

Title: Activation analysis of samples considered to be Sikhote Alin and Campo del Cielo meteorite fragments using the accelerator-driven p+Be neutron source at NPI Rez

Author: Milan Štefánik, Eva Šimečková, Jaromír Mrázek, and Jan Štursa

Abstract: Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, p.r.i., operates the accelerator-driven fast neutron sources based on interaction of charged particle beam extracted from the U-120M isochronous cyclotron with suitable target material. Two types of target stations, containing either a thick layer of beryllium or a thin layer of lithium, are available, and they produce broad neutron spectra (p+Be and d+Be source reaction) and quasi-monoenergetic neutron spectra (p+Li(C) source reaction). These neutron sources are primarily used for nuclear data measurements and validations (activation cross-sections) in energy range relevant to fusion research program IFMIF (International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility), radiation hardness tests of electronics against fast neutron fields, and material research. Moreover, it seems that these neutron sources also represent a very useful tool for application of fast neutron activation analysis (NAA).
Recently, two samples considered to be Sikhote Alin and Campo del Cielo meteorite fragments (siderites) were investigated using NAA with fast neutrons delivered from the accelerator-driven neutron source operated at the U-120M cyclotron. For neutron field production, the p(35)+Be source reaction with 35 MeV proton beam at thick beryllium target was utilized. Investigated samples were exposed to neutron field of broad spectrum up to 33 MeV with total fast neutron flux of 109 cm–2s–1, and after irradiation they were investigated using nuclear gamma-ray spectrometry technique. Qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of irradiated samples was performed, and the concentration of nickel, iron, and cobalt was determined in both samples. Effect of radionuclide production in more reaction channels, typical for fast neutron reactions and some materials, was considered as well. Obtained results clearly indicate that NAA with fast neutrons obtained from the accelerator-driven neutron source can provide useful information, e.g., for astronomers and geologists, utilizable for verification of authenticity of samples or for classification of meteorites and has a great potential for interdisciplinary research.