Radiation Dosimetry of Rubidium-86

Abstract

INTEREST has recently arisen in the possibility of using rubidium-86 as a tracer for potassium in biological studies where the short half-life of potassium-42 presents difficulties¹. In order that an assessment may be made of the radiation dosage arising from the use of this isotope, the γ-ray output and mean β-ray energy have been measured. Rubidium-86 decays with the omission of a 1.80 MeV. β-ray or by a 0.72 MeV. β-ray followed by a 1.08 MeV. γ-ray². The results reported here indicate that the γ-ray occurs in about 8.4 per cent of disintegrations.