Neutron flux self-shielding in activation analysis.

Some effects of self-shielding of neutron flux in neutron activation analysis have been investigated. Induced specific activities in dilute samples were compared with those in solid elements irradiated under the same conditions. Two factors affecting the neutron flux were investigated: thermal neutron self-shielding and epithermal neutron self-shielding. The former effect can be computed reasonably accurately, using a well-known approximation. Self-shielding of epithermal neutrons cannot be calculated rigorously, so an empirical approach was used. The self-shielding effects of neutron flux were evaluated for uranium and a maximum permissible weight has been calculated by assuming that the product of the maximum permissible weight and the atom density is a function of the ratio of the resonance integral of the absorbing element to that of uranium.