¹²⁹I in soil and grass samples around a nuclear reprocessing plant

Abstract

Neutron activation analysis was used to determine¹²⁹I in soil and grass samples around a reprocessing plant. The method involved wet oxidation of samples, using chromic acid, followed by distillation, collection of iodine in alkaline solution, loading on Dowex-1, irradiation and post-irradiation purification steps. The γ-activity of¹³⁰I isotope of the purified samples was measured for quantitative determination of¹²⁹I. The experimental results showed that¹²⁹I and the¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I atomic ratio in soil samples varied from 1.09×10⁻⁴ to 5.33×10⁻³ pCi g⁻¹ and 0.10×10⁻⁶ to 6.12×10⁻⁶, respectively. Further, the geometric mean of soil-to-plant transfer factor (Bv) for¹²⁹I was found to be 0.16 which was comparable with other published values.