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Rapid determination of 90Sr in seawater samples

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Abstract

A rapid method for 90Sr in large seawater samples has been developed at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to assay 90Sr at very low levels. The new method employs novel pre-concentration steps to collect 90Y quickly from up to 40 L of seawater to achieve a very low minimum detectable activity (MDA). An MDA for 90Sr of ~150 µBq L−1 may be obtained with this method using a 40 L seawater sample aliquot, counting 1,000 min with gas flow proportional counting. Following the pre-concentration of 90Y from the seawater, DGA Resin is used to rapidly separate 90Y from seawater samples and remove additional beta interferences. Gas flow proportional counting, liquid scintillation or Cerenkov counting may be used to count the purified 90Y and determine 90Sr present in the seawater sample. This new sample preparation method takes <8 h.

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Acknowledgments

This work was performed under the auspices of the Department of Energy, DOE Contract No. DE-AC09-96SR18500. The authors wish to acknowledge Staci Britt, Phil Demaere, Jack Herrington and Becky Chavous for their assistance with this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Savannah River National Laboratory, Building 735-B, Aiken, SC, 29808, USA

    Sherrod L. Maxwell, Brian K. Culligan, Jay B. Hutchison & Robin C. Utsey

  2. PG Research Foundation, Inc., Lisle, IL, 60532, USA

    Daniel R. McAlister

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  1. Sherrod L. Maxwell
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  2. Brian K. Culligan
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  3. Jay B. Hutchison
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  4. Robin C. Utsey
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  5. Daniel R. McAlister
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Correspondence to Sherrod L. Maxwell.

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Maxwell, S.L., Culligan, B.K., Hutchison, J.B. et al. Rapid determination of 90Sr in seawater samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 303, 709–717 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3391-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3391-8

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