176 Nuclear Forensic Analysis
The main sources of radionuclides for medical or industrial applications are
c
harged-particle
a
ccelerators
a
nd
n
uclear
r
eactors
[
23].
T
he
s
hort
p
ath
l
ength
o
f
c
harged
p
articles
i
n
m
atter,
a
nd
t
he
r
elatively
l
ow
p
article
uxes
c
ompared
t
o
t
hose
a
vailable
i
n
a
r
eactor,
l
imit
t
he
us
e
o
f
a
ccelerators
t
o
a
pplications
i
n
w
hich
t
he
p
rod-
uct
ca
nnot
b
e
p
roduced
b
y
l
ow-energy
n
eutron
r
eactions
(
e.g.,
t
he
44
Ti mentioned
e
arlier)
o
r
w
here
p
roduct
m
ass
p
urity
i
s
r
equired.
S
ince
ca
pture
o
f
t
he
n
eutron
p
ro-
duces
a
n
i
sotope
o
f
t
he
e
lement
b
eing
i
rradiated,
t
he
t
arget
a
nd
t
he
r
eaction
p
roduct
a
re
i
nseparable
b
y
c
hemical
me
ans,
u
nless
t
he
d
esired
p
roduct
i
s
t
he
r
esult
o
f
β
d
ecay
o
r
ssion.
F
or
e
xample,
t
he
i
sotope
m
ost ...