Determination of the half-life of 241 Pu

This paper studies the half-life of Pu 241 from the number of daughter nuclei Am 241 accumulating as a result of the beta decay of Pu 241 and measure by the mass spectroscopic method of isotopic dilution. Having determined the nuclide composition of the preparations indicated above, the authors calculated the number of moles of Am 241 and Pu 241 contained in the solutions under analysis. The value of the half-life of Pu 241 T /sub beta 241/ obtained is equal to 14.57 + or - 0.10 yr (with a confidence probability of 0.95. In the calculations the authors used the value 432 + or - 0.5 yr for the half-life of Am 241