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An improved method for low-level222Rn determination in environmental waters by liquid scintillation counting with pulse shape analysis

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Abstract

A method in which222Rn is extracted from 0.5 1 water samples to 20 ml toluene is described. 10 ml toluene solution with extracted222Rn is directly added to a glass scintillation vial containing 10 ml of liquid naphthalene based scintillation cocktail. Apart from diluting by toluene, the final counting solution still has excellent properties in terms of: α/β separation by pulse shape analysis, detection efficiency and background in the α-region. The detection limit of222Rn for 0.5 1 water samples was 1.5 mBq l−1 (for 12,000 s count time). The concentration of222Rn in different environmental samples such as rain, tap and mineral waters as well as deep well waters were determined.

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Author notes

  1. F. Bou-Rabee

    Present address: Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Technical University, Łódź, Poland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Protection Division, Ministry of Public Health, P.O. Box 16087, 35851, Qadeseyah, Kuwait

    H. Bem & Y. Y. Y. Bakir

  2. Faculty of Science, Department of Geology, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Kuwait

    F. Bou-Rabee

Authors
  1. H. Bem
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  2. Y. Y. Y. Bakir
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  3. F. Bou-Rabee
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Bem, H., Bakir, Y.Y.Y. & Bou-Rabee, F. An improved method for low-level222Rn determination in environmental waters by liquid scintillation counting with pulse shape analysis. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Letters 186, 119–127 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02162794

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02162794

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