**Radioanalytical Techniques: Cases Studies and Specific Applications of NAA**

[35] Basgelen N. A Unique Global Heritage Sstarting to Count its Remaining Days: Ha‐ sankeyf and Tigris Valley. Archaeology / Monument-Environment (Arkeoloji /Anit-

138 Imaging and Radioanalytical Techniques in Interdisciplinary Research - Fundamentals and Cutting Edge Applications

[36] Eskici B, Akyol AA and Kadioglu YK. Material Analyses and Conservation Problems of the Hasankeyf Zeynel Bey Tomb. Journal of Turkish Archaeology and Ethnogra‐

[37] Uluçam. A. Excavations of Hasankeyf from the Past to Nowadays, Spatial Issue of

Çevre) 2006; September-October 17 p114-119.

Konya Book, December 2007. p.681-710. (in Turkish)

phy 2008; 8, 15-37. (in Turkish)

**Chapter 6**

**Concepts, Instrumentation and**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53686

measuring the induced radioactivity.

history of the development of NAA overall the world [1].

**1. Introduction**

**Techniques of Neutron Activation Analysis**

basic research and development, as well as in industrial applications.

Lylia Hamidatou, Hocine Slamene, Tarik Akhal and Boussaad Zouranen

Analytical science to develop the methodology for the investigation of properties and struc‐ ture of matter at level of single nucleus, atom and molecule, and scientific analysis to deter‐ mine either chemical composition or elemental contents in a sample are indispensable in

Following the discovery of neutron by J. Chadwick in 1932 (Nobel prize, 1935) and the re‐ sults of F. Joliot and I. Curie in 1934, neutron activation analysis was first developed by G. Hevesy and H. Levi in 1936. They used a neutron source (226Ra + Be) and a radiation detec‐ tor (ionization chamber) and promptly recognized that the element Dy (dysprosium) in the sample became highly radioactive after exposure to the neutron source. They showed that the nuclear reaction may be used to determine the elements present in unknown samples by

Thereafter, the development of the nuclear reactors in the 1940s, the application of radio‐ chemical techniques using low resolution scintillation detectors like NaI (Tl) in the 1950s, the development of semiconductor detectors (Ge, Si, etc.) and multichannel analyzer in the 1960s, and the advent of computers and relevant software in the 1970s, the nuclear techni‐ que has advanced to become an important analytical tool for determination of many ele‐ ments at trace level. In spite of the developments in other chemical techniques, the simplicity and selectivity, the speed of operation, the sensitivity and accuracy of NAA have become and maintained its role as a powerful analytical technique. In 2011, Peter Bode de‐ scribes in his paper "Neutron activation analysis: A primary method of measurements", the

> © 2013 Hamidatou et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

> © 2013 Hamidatou et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
