(558f) The University of Utah TRIGA Reactor as Neutron Source for Neutron Activation Analysis of Various Daily Products

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) can be used to determine the concentration of different elements. In order to perform such experiment a neutron source is required for the activation process. Various neutron sources are available such as a nuclear reactor, an actinide such as californium, and D-T fusion reaction. Using a gamma detector (semiconductor, scintillation, or gas ionization type) various peaks are recorded from the NAA sample. These peaks are compared with available data for various elements to identify the content of the examined samples.

The University of Utah TRIGA reactor built in 1975 operates at 100 kW thermal power; it contains several irradiation facilities, for fast and thermal neutron irradiations as used in NAA analysis. This paper will present the capabilities of using the University of Utah research reactor, in performing a number of NAA experiments; we will mainly focus at a number of various daily products to examine the chemical compositions and analyze the environmental quality of the Salt Lake. We will thus generate a library of the data indicating the contents of tobacco (various cigarettes brands), bullets (various brands), in addition to examining the chemical content of Salt Lake water and its shores.