The Measurement of Californium-252 in Vivo

Abstract

If standard whole-body counting techniques are used to assess skeletal burdens of 252Cf, difficulties may arise in the interpretation of spectra in the energy region below 0.4 MeV, where the principal gamma-ray flux from the contaminant appears. There will often be advantages in studying the much weaker contributions above 1.7 MeV, eliminating interference from 40K and 137Cs. A major component of these contributions arises from radiative capture of the fission neutrons in hydrogen, and a technique has been devised to overcome certain calibration problems and other difficulties which occur when gamma-rays produced by this mechanism are measured.