152Eu depth profiles in granite and concrete cores exposed to the Hiroshima atomic bomb

• Published in: Health physics (1958) Vol. 72; no. 6; p. 848
• Main Authors: Shizuma, K, Iwatani, K, Hasai, H, Hoshi, M, Oka, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.06.1997
• Subjects: Biophysics; Construction Materials; Europium - adverse effects; Europium - analysis; History, 20th Century; Humans; Japan; Neutrons - adverse effects; Nuclear Warfare - history; Radiation Dosage; Radioisotopes - adverse effects; Radioisotopes - analysis; Radiometry - methods; Radiometry - statistics & numerical data; Sensitivity and Specificity; Silicon Dioxide; Japan
• ISSN: 0017-9078
• DOI: 10.1097/00004032-199706000-00004

Two granite and two concrete core samples were obtained within 500 m from the hypocenter of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, and the depth profile of 152Eu was measured to evaluate the incident neutron spectrum. The granite cores were obtained from a pillar of the Motoyasu Bridge located 101 m from the hypocenter and from a granite rock in the Shirakami Shrine (379 m); the concrete cores were obtained from a gate in the Gokoku Shrine (398 m) and from a pillar top of the Hiroshima bank (250 m). The profiles of the specific activities of the cores were measured to a depth of 40 cm from the surface using low background germanium (Ge) spectrometers. According to the measured depth profiles, relaxation lengths of incident neutrons were derived as 13.6 cm for Motoyasu Bridge pillar (granite), 12.2 cm for Shirakami Shrine core (granite), and 9.6 cm for concrete cores of Gokoku Shrine and Hiroshima Bank. In addition, a comparison of the granite cores in Hiroshima showed good agreement with Nagasaki data. Present results indicates that the depth profile of 152Eu reflects incident neutrons not so high but in the epithermal region.