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Nuclide reference

Bk-249 — Berkelium-249

The half-life of Bk-249 is 320 d. Main decay mode: β⁻ decay to Cf-249 (100%).

Identification

Element
Berkelium (Bk)
Atomic number Z
97
Mass number A
249
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
320 d
Specific activity
6.063e+13 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
A1 / A2 for transport (SSR-6, НП-053-16)
40 TBq / 0.3 TBq
D-value (НП-067-24)
10 TBq

Decay modes

  • β⁻ decay → Cf-249 — 100 %
  • α decay → Am-245 — 0.00145 %
  • spontaneous fission — 4.69e-8 %

Alpha and beta particles

RadiationEnergy, keVYield, %
β⁻, E max124100

For β⁻ the endpoint (maximum) energy of the spectrum is given. ENDF/B-VIII.0.

Related calculators

DecayActivity ↔ massSource categoryDose rateA1/A2 and package type
Reference data vs computed valuesHalf-life, gamma lines and D-value are reference data (ENDF/B-VIII.0, НП-067-24).Gamma constant Γ is H*(10) at 1 m computed from ICRP-107 spectra (NIST µ_en/ρ, ICRP-74 Table A.21) including short-lived progeny in equilibrium (e.g. Cs-137/Ba-137m, Ra-226 series); specific activity uses molar mass M ≈ mass number A.

Berkelium-249 (Bk-249) — reference data

What is in the card

This card gathers the key data of radionuclide Bk-249 in one place: half-life, decay modes, main gamma lines, alpha and beta particle energies, gamma constant, specific activity and the D-value for source categorization. Decay and emission data are from ENDF/B-VIII.0; the D-value follows NP-067-24; the gamma constant is the ambient dose equivalent H*(10) at 1 m, computed from ICRP-107 spectra.

How to use the data

Half-life and specific activity let you recalculate the activity of a Bk-249 source to the delivery or disposal date — use the decay calculator. Gamma lines with yields identify the nuclide from a spectrum and pick the line for gamma spectrometry; the gamma constant Γ gives the dose rate at a distance, while the D-value and A1/A2 set the source category and the package type for transport.