Determination of 129I/127I ratios in environmental samplesusing neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Studies on the behavior of ¹²⁹I in the environment are greatly enhanced when the concentration of the radioiodine can be related to stable ¹²⁷I. The background ratios of ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I of 10^-10 and lower, found in uncontaminated areas, are best measured using accelerator mass spectrometry. However, there are many examples of studies where ratios higher than 10^-8 have been measured, even in places located remotely from nuclear reprocessing activities. In the vicinity of reprocessing plants it is possible to find ratios between 10⁰ and 10^-7, which can be detected easily using neutron activation analysis (NAA). Stable iodine is readily determined at concentrations below 1 mg/kg in environmental materials with instrumental NAA and radiochemical techniques can be used to measure ¹²⁹I to below mBq concentrations. Therefore, where there are elevated concentrations of ¹²⁹I it is possible to use a combination of neutron activation techniques to determine ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I ratios. This paper describes how NAA is used to measure ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I ratios in milk, vegetation, and atmospheric samples. Instrumental NAA is used to measure both ¹²⁹I and ¹²⁷I where the ratio is between 10⁰ and 10^-3. A radiochemical procedure is used to measure ¹²⁹I at ratios between 10^-3 and 10^-7, with a thermal neutron flux of 10¹⁶ m^-2·s^-1.