Page 16 - IEAR1_60y_Book_of_Abstracts_UPD

4 Invited Talks

is to administer and apply the Common System of Accounting and Control of Nu-
clear Materials (SCCC), whose aim is to verify that the nuclear materials in all the
nuclear activities of the two countries are not deviated towards nuclear weapons.
he existence of ABACC is a clear demonstration of the political willingness of the
two countries to provide transparency in their nuclear programs, creating an environ-
ment of mutual trust, and contributing to an increase in regional and international
security.
The two countries provide the financial resources required for the operation of
ABACC and must guarantee its institutional independence. Other factors that de-
termine the success of ABACC are the technical staff, the use of state of the art
equipment and the permanent coordination with the national authorities of Brazil
and Argentina and with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
This presentation will give some information about the ABACC model structure,
inspection program, new technology and main activities in Brazil and Argentina.

29 Nov TRENDS IN NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
5:30pm
R. Plá a
a rpla_ar@yahoo.com.ar
National Atomic Energy Commission, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) is a sensitive analytical technique for the de-
termination of major, minor and trace elements in a wide variety of matrices. It is
considered a mature technique that has played a very important role in science and
technology, especially at its early development stage. It is characterized by very low
detection limits for 30-40 elements, high accuracy and precision, significant matrix
independence, the possibility of performing multielemental non-destructive instru-
mental analysis or using radiochemical separation to overcome interferences. Due
to is sensitivity and accuracy, NAA has been expensively applied to environmental,
nutritional and health-related studies, material, geological and geochemical sciences,
archaeological and forensic studies, nuclear data measurements and also, it has a
role in quality assurance of chemical analysis. Since the development of other ana-
lytical methods, such as Inductively-Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
(ICP-AES) Inductively-Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and Total Re-
flection XRF, added to the closing of nuclear research reactors in several countries
and the reduction in the number of NAA laboratories, a decrease in the number of
NAA papers. In this work, the characteristics of NAA compared to other analytical
methods are compared and current and future opportunities and developments for
NAA are discussed.