Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8209747 | Applied Radiation and Isotopes | 2015 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
The [Ba+Fe]-coprecipitation method is applied to measure gross alpha activity for radiological examination of drinking water in the laboratory. This method collects all the alpha-emitting radionuclides of interest (natural alpha emitters and transuranium elements) in a precipitate on a filter. This paper describes an investigation of sample pretreatment of the precipitate collected by the [Ba+Fe]-coprecipitation method for gross alpha activity determination. The aim of this preliminary work is to be a starting point to develop simple and rapid radiochemical procedures for specific alpha emitters (polonium, radium, thorium, uranium, plutonium and americium), in contrast to the sophisticated, expensive and time-consuming alpha spectrometry method. The sample pretreatment aspects considered include quantitative [Ba+Fe]-coprecipitation, two methods for precipitate treatment (leaching and complete destruction of the filter), and the determination of the alpha-emitting proportions present in the barium sulfate precipitate and acid solution obtained after precipitate treatment. Furthermore, a radiochemical procedure for 226Ra determination was performed and finally, the sample pretreatment proposed in this work was summarized.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Radiation
Authors
J.A. Suarez-Navarro, Ll. Pujol, M.J. Suarez-Navarro,