ISSN:
1588-2780
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Abstract Current techniques for determining low levels of dissolved thorium involve chemical separations, generally by coprecipitation with a carrier cation, purification by ion exchange procedures, electroplating and, finally, alpha counting by alpha spectrometry. Similarly, measurements of low228Ra and224Ra activities requires concentration, by coprecipitation with barium sulfate, followed by gamma counting. An improved method for determining radium and thorium from the232Th decay series has been developed which measures the activity of220Rn as an assay of its parents. Although some ingrowth corrections and minor separation procedures for Th are required, the results to date show that the dynamic counting of220Rn via de-emanation and alpha counting by the alpha-scintillation method is a preferable approach for determining these radium and thorium isotopes accurately and efficiently. The method for lower limit detection depends on the emanation rate, which depends on purge-gas flow rate and sample volume analyzed. Using 50-cc and 1000-cc bubblers, and maximum effective purge gas flow rate, a lower limit of detection of 0.4 and 0.06 pCi/L220Rn can be obtained, respectively.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02036384
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