Naturally occurring isotopes
Zirconium has five stable isotopes, of which a few are used for the production of radioisotopes. Although radioactive Zr-95 is a fission product, it can also produced by neutron irradiation of Zr-94. Zr-96 has been used for the production of the radioisotope Zr-97. Zr-90 can be used for the production of the PET isotope Nb-90. Finally, Zr-90 has been proposed for cladding in nuclear fuel. The use of Zr-90 would lower even further the already low neutron absorption cross section of natural Zr that is currently used as fuel cladding. Zirconium isotopes can be obtained from Trace Sciences International.
Further data for radioisotopes (radioactive isotopes) of zirconium are listed separately (including any which occur naturally) in the radioisotopes section. This table shows information about naturally occuring isotopes, their atomic masses, their natural abundances, their nuclear spins, and their magnetic moments.
| Isotope |
Atomic mass (ma/u) |
Natural abundance (atom %) |
Nuclear spin (I) |
Magnetic moment (μ/μN) |
| 90Zr |
89.9047026 (26) |
51.45 (40) |
0 |
|
| 91Zr |
90.9056439 (26) |
11.22 (5) |
5/2 |
-1.30362 |
| 92Zr |
91.9050386 (26) |
17.15 (8) |
0 |
|
| 94Zr |
93.9063148 (28) |
17.38 (28) |
0 |
|
| 96Zr |
95.908275 (4) |
2.80 (9) |
0 |
|
 |
|---|

In the above picture, the most intense ion is set to 100% since this corresponds best to the output from a mass spectrometer. This is not to be confused with the relative percentage isotope abundances which total 100% for all the naturally occurring isotopes.
The isotope abundances are taken from reference 1 while the masses, nuclear spins, and magnetic moments are adapted from reference 2.
- Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances report for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in Isotopic Compositions of the Elements 1989, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1998, 70, 217. [Copyright 1998 IUPAC]
- I. Mills, T. Cvitas, K. Homann, N. Kallay, and K. Kuchitsu in Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK, 1988. [Copyright 1988 IUPAC]
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