Analytical Applications of Nuclear Techniques

Book excerpt: The IAEA has compiled this overview of current applications of nuclear analytical techniques (NATs). The contributions included in this book describe a variety of nuclear techniques and applications, such as those in the fields of environment and health, industrial processes, non-destructive testing, forensic and archaeological investigations, cosmochemistry and method validation. The techniques covered range from classical instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), its radiochemical derivative RNAA, in-beam methods such as prompt y neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), to X ray fluorescence (XRF) and proton induced X ray emission (PIXE) spectroscopy. Isotopic techniques to investigate element behaviour in biology and medicine, and also to validate other non-nuclear analytical techniques, are described. Destructive and non-destructiveapproaches are presented, along with their use to investigate very small and very large samples, archaeological samples and extraterrestrial samples. Several nuclear analytical applications in industry are described that have considerable socioeconomic impact wherever they can be implemented.