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A rapid method for 137Cs preconcentration from seawater by using polyaluminum chloride as coagulant

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Abstract

A rapid method was developed herein for preconcentrating and determining 137Cs in seawater. The coagulant polyaluminum chloride was used to accelerate the ammonium phosphomolybdate sedimentation for preconcentrating 137Cs from large volumes of seawater, followed by direct measurement with gamma-ray spectrometry. Compared with the conventional method, this new approach can reduce the preconcentration time from 4 to 5 days to within a single day. The proposed method was applied to the survey of samples collected surrounding Taiwan since 2018. The mean range of 137Cs level was about 1–2 Bq m−3, far below the Taiwan regulatory limit of 2 Bq L−1.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Atomic Energy Council, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, ROC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Monitoring Center, AEC, Kaohsiung City, 833, Taiwan, ROC

    Wan-Ling Chen, Chia-Yin Pan & Wen-Hsien Tsai

  2. Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung City, 804, Taiwan, ROC

    Hsin-Hsiung Huang

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  1. Wan-Ling Chen
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  2. Chia-Yin Pan
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  3. Hsin-Hsiung Huang
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  4. Wen-Hsien Tsai
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Correspondence to Wan-Ling Chen.

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Chen, WL., Pan, CY., Huang, HH. et al. A rapid method for 137Cs preconcentration from seawater by using polyaluminum chloride as coagulant. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 329, 1345–1351 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07905-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07905-7

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