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Nuclide reference

Pu-238 — Plutonium-238

The half-life of Pu-238 is 87.7 years. Main decay mode: α decay to U-234 (100%).

Identification

Element
Plutonium (Pu)
Atomic number Z
94
Mass number A
238
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
87.7 years
Specific activity
6.337e+11 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
A1 / A2 for transport (SSR-6, НП-053-16)
10 TBq / 0.001 TBq
D-value (НП-067-24)
0.06 TBq

Decay modes

  • α decay → U-234 — 100 %
  • spontaneous fission — 1.86e-7 %

Main gamma lines

Energy, keVYield, %
17.1131 · X-ray line4.977
13.6085 · X-ray line4.577
43.4980.0392
99.8530.00729
152.720.000929

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

Alpha and beta particles

RadiationEnergy, keVYield, %
α5,49970.91
5,456.328.98
5,357.70.105

Related calculators

DecayActivity ↔ massSource categoryDose rateA1/A2 and package type

Other isotopes of this element

Pu-239
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.

Plutonium-238 (Pu-238) — reference data

What is in the card

This card gathers the key data of radionuclide Pu-238 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 Pu-238 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.