Preparation of Drop-Deposited Quantitative Uranium Sources with Low Self-Absorption

A source preparation procedure was optimised for 235U sources of about 1 mg or 100 Bq, to be standardised for their activity concentrations by α-particle counting at a defined solid angle. The aim was to obtain quantitative sources having a thin, homogeneous active layer with low self-absorption of the emitted α-particles. The procedure involves spraying the wetting and seeding agent in a circular shape onto a glass or stainless steel substrate, quantitative drop deposition of active solution onto the sprayed area by the pycnometer method and fast drying of the source on a heating plate. The fraction of heavily scattered and self-absorbed α-particles could be reduced to 0.05–0.1% for a majority of the sources.

VAN AMMEL Raf;  EYKENS Silke;  EYKENS Roger;  POMME Stefaan; 

2011-11-08

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC59255

0168-9002,   

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168900210020802,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC59255,   

10.1016/j.nima.2010.09.056,