Alpha-induced neutron activity in materials.

Abstract

A tabulation of neutron yields due to α-particle activity from a range of elements is presented together with the formalism necessary to determine the expected neutron yield from composite materials under either decay equilibrium or disequilibrium conditions. The method for using the data is illustrated and the effects of non-homogeneous materials, the contribution of fission neutrons and non-equilibrium concentrations of α-emitters in composite materials are considered