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Nuclide reference

Cm-246 — Curium-246

The half-life of Cm-246 is 4,760 years. Main decay mode: α decay to Pu-242 (99.97%).

Identification

Element
Curium (Cm)
Atomic number Z
96
Mass number A
246
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
4,760 years
Specific activity
1.13e+10 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
A1 / A2 for transport (SSR-6, НП-053-16)
9 TBq / 0.0009 TBq
D-value (НП-067-24)
0.2 TBq

Decay modes

  • α decay → Pu-242 — 99.97 %
  • spontaneous fission — 0.02614 %

Main gamma lines

Energy, keVYield, %
18.1426 · X-ray line3.318
14.2737 · X-ray line3.005
44.5450.02376

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

Alpha and beta particles

RadiationEnergy, keVYield, %
α5,386.582.18
5,343.517.8

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-246 (Cm-246) — reference data

What is in the card

This card gathers the key data of radionuclide Cm-246 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-246 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.