Radioactive source materials formable into various shapes

A method of forming an integral source material comprising:

• providing an integral source material comprising a polymer chain having at least one non-radioactive nuclide that is activatable by exposure to radiation and is a chemically bound constituent of the backbone of the polymer of the integral source material;
• forming the integral source material into a device, wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of test-objects, rectangular and disc shaped sources configured to radiate an area, radioactive enclosures, flood sources, nuclear imaging devices, shrouds and excitation sources for energy-dispersive fluorescence analysis;
• and
• exposing the integral source material to radiation to activate the at least one nuclide of the polymer chain, wherein the device comprises a checkerboard pattern comprising alternating active and inactive squares, the active squares containing the integral source material.