Federal Medical Biophysical Center named after A. I. Burnazyan, Moscow, Russia:

V. Yu. Solovev, Head of Laboratory of Anthropogenic Risk Analysis, e-mail: soloviev.fmbc@gmail.com
V. F. Demin, Leading Researcher
V. A. Demin, Deputy Head of Department
S. S. Fatkina, Engineer of Laboratory of Information-Analytical Systems

The possibility of applying a series of nuclear-physical methods for detecting the non-ferrous metals and their compounds (including ultrafine form) was investigated in different environments. The experiments for definition of the content of Ag, Au and ZnO nanoparticles in biological samples using neutron-activation analysis were carried out on the basis of nuclear research reactor IR-8 (ИР-8). The test experiments with TiO₂ nanoparticles were also carried out using reactions of fast neutrons and protons of isochronous cyclotron U-150 (У-150). The sensitivity of quantitative evaluation of gold and silver content in the samples with radiolabeling gold isotope ¹⁹⁸Au and radiolabeling silver isotope ^110mAg is 10^–11 g and 10^–9 g, respectively. The model experiment was carried out using the reactor IR-8 with an average density of thermal neutron flux 3·10¹² n/(cm²·s). The gold content in ultrafine form in soil samples was evaluated. The possibility of using nuclear reactions with charged particles was reviewed for the quantitative determination of non-ferrous metals (for example, Ti, Eu, Pt, Mn). The biggest advantage of these methods is the absence of necessity of the special smaple preparation for their use and non-destruction of the sample, which is good for the additional investigation.
This work was carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation (agreement No. 14.604.21.0114 on August 11, 2014; unique identifier: RFMEFI60414X0114). The research work used the unique research reactor IR-8 (National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”) and equipment from the Multiple-Access Center of the Moscow State University.

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