FEASIBILITY OF ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF KILOGRAM-SIZE SAMPLES BY INSTRUMENTAL NEUTRON-ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

A method is presented that was neutron activation analysis for nondest ructive multielement determinations in kilogram-size samples. Algorith ms for correction of the neutron self-shielding and the gamma-ray self -attenuation have been developed. These corrections do not require any a priori knowledge of the sample composition. The feasibility of the method has been validated by analyzing different 1-2-kg samples and co mparing the results with those obtained from conventional small sample analyses of the same materials. Good agreement was observed. An outlo ok for future applications of kilogram-size sample analysis is given.