Abstract
A new method has been developed at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) that can be used for the rapid determination of 226Ra in emergency urine samples following a radiological incident. If a radiological dispersive device event or a nuclear accident occurs, there will be an urgent need for rapid analyses of radionuclides in urine samples to ensure the safety of the public. Large numbers of urine samples will have to be analyzed very quickly. This new SRNL method was applied to 100 mL urine aliquots, however this method can be applied to smaller or larger sample aliquots as needed. The method was optimized for rapid turnaround times; urine samples may be prepared for counting in <3 h. A rapid calcium phosphate precipitation method was used to pre-concentrate 226Ra from the urine sample matrix, followed by removal of calcium by cation exchange separation. A stacked elution method using DGA Resin was used to purify the 226Ra during the cation exchange elution step. This approach combines the cation resin elution step with the simultaneous purification of 226Ra with DGA Resin, saving time. 133Ba was used instead of 225Ra as tracer to allow immediate counting; however, 225Ra can still be used as an option. The rapid purification of 226Ra to remove interferences using DGA Resin was compared with a slightly longer Ln Resin approach. A final barium sulfate micro-precipitation step was used with isopropanol present to reduce solubility; producing alpha spectrometry sources with peaks typically <40 keV FWHM (full width half max). This new rapid method is fast, has very high tracer yield (>90 %), and removes interferences effectively. The sample preparation method can also be adapted to ICP-MS measurement of 226Ra, with rapid removal of isobaric interferences.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) (2008) Management of persons contaminated with radionuclides. Report No. 161, Vol. 1. http://www.ncrppublications.org/Reports/161_I
Mexico finds stolen radioactive material amid dirty bomb fears. http://www.voanews.com/content/nuclear-material-stolen-in-mexico/1803195.html. Accessed 4 Dec 2013
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (2003) Categorization of radioactive sources. IAEA-TECDOC-1344. IAEA, Vienna
Kehagia K, Potiriadis C, Bratakos S, Koukouliou V, Drikos G (2007) Determination of 226Ra in urine samples by alpha spectrometry radiation protection dosimetry. Radiat Prot Dosim 127(1–4):293–296
Dai X, Kramer-Tremblay S, Li C (2012) Rapid determination of 226Ra in urine samples. Radiat Prot Dosim 151(1):30–35
Sadi B, Li C, Kramer G (2012) An emergency radiobioassay method for 226Ra in human urine samples. Radiat Prot Dosim 151(1):10–16
Cozzella M, Leila A, Hernandez R (2011) Determination of 226Ra in urine samples by Q–ICP–MS: a method for routine analyses. Radiat Meas 46:109–111
Maxwell S, Culligan B (2012) Rapid determination of Ra-226 in environmental samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 293(1):149–156
Saunders D (2013) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Personal Communication
McAlister D, Horwitz EP (2011) Chromatographic radionuclide generator systems for the actinides and natural decay series elements. Radiochim Acta 99:151–159
Currie L (1968) Limits for qualitative and quantitative determination. Anal Chem 40:586–593
Horwitz P, McAlister D, Bond A, Barrans AB Jr (2005) Novel extraction chromatographic resins based on tetraalkyldiglycolamides: characterization and potential applications. Solvent Extr. Ion Exch. 23(3):319
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, Jack Herrington and Becky Chavous for their assistance with this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maxwell, S.L., Culligan, B.K., Hutchison, J.B. et al. Rapid determination of 226Ra in emergency urine samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 300, 1159–1166 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3046-9
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3046-9