Au
Gold
Z = 79 · Transition Metal · 197.0 u
Nuclear Engineering Significance
Not commonly used in reactor core materials. Gold foils and wires are standard activation detectors (Au-197 → Au-198, t₁/₂ = 2.7 d) for thermal and epithermal neutron flux measurements due to the well-characterized σ_a = 98.7 b and strong resonance at 4.9 eV.
Basic properties
- Atomic number (Z)
- 79
- Standard atomic mass
- 197.0 u
- Category
- Transition Metal
Isotopes & cross-section data
No nuclide data for this element in the reference database.
The NRDP database focuses on nuclides relevant to reactor physics. For full isotope data, see NNDC NuDat 3.