Evaluation of neutron contamination in 241Am gamma-ray source

The 241Am gamma-ray source has a number of medical and industrial applications. In addition to the gamma-rays the source also could yield neutrons due to the (α,xn) reactions with other materials such as oxygen, aluminium etc. While using this source one needs to be aware of the possible unwanted exposure to neutrons and also of wrong results. We have investigated the neutron yield from a 1.85 × 1010 Bq 241Am source and found that the source has a neutron yield of 3350 ± 79 neutrons/s. The variation of neutron dose rate and neutron flux with distance from the source is also obtained using superheated droplet detectors. The neutron dose is found to be about two orders of magnitude lower than the gamma-ray dose.