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Nuclide reference

Cm-249 — Curium-249

The half-life of Cm-249 is 1.0692 h. Main decay mode: β⁻ decay to Bk-249 (100%).

Identification

Element
Curium (Cm)
Atomic number Z
96
Mass number A
249
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
1.0692 h
Specific activity
4.355e+17 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
D-value (НП-067-24)
—

Decay modes

  • β⁻ decay → Bk-249 — 100 %

Main gamma lines

Energy, keVYield, %
634.311.5
3.80602 · X-ray line1.413
560.470.84
368.760.35
112.116 · X-ray line0.2232
621.860.182
652.80.143
518.480.088
136.90.039
549.360.03

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

Alpha and beta particles

RadiationEnergy, keVYield, %
β⁻, E max891.296.5
256.91.9
330.81.04
522.40.46

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

Related calculators

DecayActivity ↔ massDose rate
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-249 (Cm-249) — reference data

What is in the card

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