Activation product

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Activation products are materials made radioactive by neutron activation.

Fission products and actinides produced by neutron absorption of nuclear fuel itself are normally referred to by those specific names, and activation product reserved for products of neutron capture by other materials, such as structural components of the nuclear reactor or nuclear bomb, the reactor coolant, control rods or other neutron poisons, or materials in the environment. All of these, however, need to be handled as radioactive waste. Some nuclides originate in more than one way, as activation products or fission products.

Activation products in a reactor's primary coolant loop are a main reason why reactors use a chain of two or even three coolant loops linked by heat exchangers.

Fusion reactors will not produce radioactive waste from the fusion product nuclei themselves, which are normally just helium-4, but generate high neutron fluxes, so activation products are a particular concern.

Activation product radionuclides include:

Nuclide	See also	Halflife	Parent
Tritium		12.3 y	Lithium-6,7 Boron-10
Beryllium-10		1.53 my	Boron-10
Carbon-14		5600 y	Nitrogen-14 Carbon-13
Sodium-24	Fast breeder	15 h	Sodium-23
Chlorine-36		301 ky	Chlorine-35
Argon-39		269 y	Argon-38
Iron-55		2.73 y	Iron-54
Nickel-59		76 ky	Nickel-58
Cobalt-60		5.27 y	Cobalt-59
Nickel-63		100 y	Nickel-62
Molybdenum-93		4 ky	Molybdenum-92
Niobium-93m		16 y
Niobium-94		20.3 ky	Niobium-93
Technetium-99	LLFP	211 ky	Molybdenum-98
Silver-108m		418 y	Silver-107
Cadmium-113m		13 y	Cadmium-112
Tin-121m	[1]	56 y	Tin-120
Lead-205	Q=51KeV	15.3 my	Lead-204
Polonium-210	LBE	138 d	Bismuth-209