Neutron Activated Duracell Battery (Mn56)

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Mark Rowley
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Neutron Activated Duracell Battery (Mn56)

Post by Mark Rowley »

More activation fun!
Last evening I irradiated a common Duracell 9V battery. Alkaline batteries typically contain Manganese Dioxide which when activated reveals a photopeak at 850keV. Unlike the earlier manganese activation experiment in August which used 99% pure material, this is not. The oxide within the battery appears to be mixed with an oily substance (possibly an electrolyte or ?). Regardless of the slimy slurry, I was pleased to learn that using lab grade Manganese isn’t required to provide decent results. I see negligible differences when comparing this experiment with last August’s Mn activation numbers.

Distance from grid: 17cm
Approx neutron TIER: 1.7E+6
Exposure time: 7 minutes
Moderator: HDPE

Video of the experiment:
https://youtu.be/OaWT7DGHX50


Shown below is the Duracell spec sheet for the common 9V alkaline battery.

10802410-94C7-4916-955F-03B176A4D23C.jpeg


Picture of the battery in the HDPE moderator:

4E0EF1A3-AEF1-4DC6-B5D7-50C65A84F1CA.jpeg


Picture of the activated battery in the gamma spec chamber.

0048CB7E-D154-4BEF-85B6-20491F346F4B.jpeg


The following two pictures show a nice Mn56 photopeak at 850keV after 2029 seconds in the spectrometer.

37346278-556C-4693-B2CD-D54C83581444.jpeg
1BC2C2B6-6C9A-4F4B-A1F5-1E819AC8838B.jpeg


This last picture is of normal spectrometer background with no source in the chamber (empty).

D7D583CA-C4BC-4ADA-BBC3-639ADE5D5C17.jpeg


Counting time was approx 2040 seconds
Empty chamber background counts: ~7399
Source in chamber for the same time: ~11050
Difference: 3651 counts

Mark Rowley
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