MULTI-GEOMETRY241AMBE NEUTRON IRRADIATOR - DESIGN AND CALIBRATION FOR TOTAL-BODY NEUTRON-ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Neutron activation analysis provides an accurate elemental assessment of body compositional compartments; the analytical technique identifies skeletal, muscle, protein, and fat masses. Our irradiator system uses 56 (AmBe)-Am-241 sources (4.4 . 10(7) n/s each) which can be arranged in four basic geometries to examine body sizes froin a preterm infant (500 g, 30 cm) to a very large adult (120 kg, 2 m). Both in vivo and human cadaver studies have been performed. Precisions of 1 to 2% for total body Ca, P, Na, and Cl have been obtained.