A case of understated uncertainties in half-life measurements

Abstract

Evidence suggests that the uncertainties reported in a widely referenced paper by Houtermans et al. in Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 31, 153 (1980) have been significantly underestimated, potentially by an order of magnitude. Up to the present date, this has had implications for the accuracy of the reference half-life and uncertainty values derived from evaluations of literature data. The current study aims to propose more realistic uncertainty values that can serve as a foundation for future re-evaluations. Additionally, it is suggested that similar corrections could be considered for other historical papers to ensure consistency across the field. Although the approach to rectifying old data may involve some degree of subjectivity, it offers a practical and effective way to incorporate the historical decay data until they can be replaced by more precise measurements accompanied by comprehensive uncertainty assessments.