All tools

Nuclide reference

Cm-240 — Curium-240

The half-life of Cm-240 is 27 d. Main decay mode: α decay to Pu-236 (100%).

Identification

Element
Curium (Cm)
Atomic number Z
96
Mass number A
240
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
27 d
Specific activity
7.456e+14 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
A1 / A2 for transport (SSR-6, НП-053-16)
40 TBq / 0.02 TBq
D-value (НП-067-24)
0.3 TBq

Decay modes

Main gamma lines

Energy, keVYield, %
18.1429 · X-ray line5.416
14.2738 · X-ray line4.893
44.630.03895
158.350.004459
102.820.004438

Lines of the bare nuclide (ENDF/B-VIII.0), without daughter ingrowth.

Alpha and beta particles

RadiationEnergy, keVYield, %
α6,290.571.1
6,247.728.9
6,1470.052
5,9890.014

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.K-series X-ray energies are from NIST SRD 128 (Deslattes et al., 2003): in ENDF/B-VIII.0 they are given to 1 % and shifted by up to 0.7 keV for heavy elements. L-series lines and all yields are ENDF/B-VIII.0.

Curium-240 (Cm-240) — reference data

What is in the card

This card gathers the key data of radionuclide Cm-240 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 Cm-240 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.