Re: Comments Re Traditional Definition of Specific Activity

[mem122a@lanl.gov (Milton McLain)]

To All,

Comments from an "Old Timer" who actually remembers what "radiochemistry"
is/was:

The traditional, original definition of the term "specific activity" was
something like this:

        Specific Activity is the concentration of radioactivity per unit
mass of that element.  For example, stable cobalt (Co-59) when irradiation
in a reactor results in formation of radioactive Co-60.  The longer you
irradiate (with, of course, the usual saturation limits), the higher the
specific activity, or Ci Co-60 per gram of stable, elemental cobalt.  The
"ultimate" in high specific activity is experienced with "carrier-free"
radionuclildes, e.g. fission-produced Mo-99, I-131, etc., where almost all
Mo or I atoms are radioactive.  Contemporary corruption of the "specific
activity" term is used in the context of what is really better described as
"activity concentration", regardless of the matrix.

So much for historical notes!

Milton McLain