Morocco: Participation of CNESTEN NAA Laboratory in PT-Mechanism Under RAF4022

The National Center of Energy, Sciences and Nuclear Techniques (CNESTEN) have successfully installed the first Moroccan reactor at the Nuclear Studies Center of Maâmora. This reactor type TRIGA Mark II with a power of 2 MW will contribute in the development of several socio - economic sectors in the country such as environment, agriculture, health, human sciences. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) occupies an important place among the many uses of this reactor. The INAA is already operational in CENM; this analytical method will be available in the country as a tool for the end-users in the fields such as geochemistry, pollution assessment and cultural heritage and also for training of young researchers. The NAA laboratory is equipped of two irradiation facilities: pneumatic transfer system for short irradiations and Rotary Specimen Rack system for long irradiation. The gamma spectrometry laboratory is equipped of three hyper pure Germanium detectors that one is related to sample changer. In our center, neutron activation analysis finds several applications in the maintained research programs such as environmental monitoring through the determination of heavy metals: such as (vanadium, arsenic, antimony, tin ....) the phosphate industry throughout the determination of uranium, iodine and the rare earths. In the field of nutrition and food security, the NAA can give information about essential and potentially toxic element. Our participation in Inter Laboratory Comparison organized by IAEA had two aims: first to perform good results using our facilities and the second to open the way to the accreditation according to ISO/IEC 17025. (author)