Abstract
A radiative collisional model which allows for all the levels of the 1s22s22p53s, 2p53p, and 2p53d configurations is used to calculate the populations of the first excited states of neon-like ions. An earlier conclusion that an inversion exists between levels of the lp 2p53p and 2p53s configurations in a stationary plasma is confirmed. It is shown that an inversion with a fairly high gain is due to not one but several types of transitions covering a wide wavelengths range.