[en] When developing zirconium alloys for nuclear power plants, extensive studies have been carried out for establishing the effect of impurities. Most of the impurities present in zirconium in small quantities (a few hundredths and thousandths parts percent) affect its technological, mechanical, and corrosion properties. For instance, decreasing the carbon content from 0.06 up to 0.03% decreases the corrosion rate of zirconium in water at a temperature of 325C by approximately three times. Activation analysis involves irradiation of the specimens with low-energy (up to 2 MeV) deutons (deuterons) and measuring their activity. The sensitivity and the accuracy of the activation method are determined (restricted) by the surface effects appearing during specimen preparatio and irradiation. The extent of surface contamination and the thickness of the contaminated layer depend on the method of specimen preparation prior to irradiation and on the composition of the specimen. Sample preparation methods are described. In the present study, activation of the experimental specimens was carried out using 1.8 MeV deuterons at a current density of 6 μA/cm² for a period of 10 min in a 72-cm cyclotron. At the given energy level of deuterons, the induced activation of the specimen is determined mainly by the ¹³N radionuclide formed according to the ¹²C (d, n)¹³N reaction and having a half-life period of 9.97 min

[en] Short communication

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[en] A semiempirical formula is derived for evaluating the lowest concentration of Moessbauer atoms whose signal can be reliably recorded by electron Moessbauer spectroscopy. The concentration is calculated from the resonance effect magnitude epsilon in a sample of known chemical composition, on the basis of the cross sections of photoelectric absorption of source gamma photons by the sample atoms, the energy and probability of production of photo-electrons and their associated Auger electrons, and the probability of recoilless gamma-photon absorption in the sample. Experimental testing showed that the calculated and measured values of epsilon differ by not more than 20%