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Rapid methods for radiostrontium determination in aerosol filters and vegetation in emergency situations using PS resin

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Abstract

This study describes a rapid and novelty method for radiostrontium determination in aerosol filters and vegetation based on the use of plastic scintillation resins (PS resin), which combines the separation and measurement preparation into a single step. The optimization of the pre-treatment steps and the use of PS resin allows a simplification of the radiochemistry and a reduction in the time of analysis to 8 h and 12 h for aerosol filters and vegetation, respectively. The limits of detection were on average 0.04 Bq (filter)−1 and 3 Bq (kg-fresh)−1. The method obtained high recoveries (82% on average) and relative bias for total radiostrontium were below 30%. Individual activities of 89Sr and 90Sr were obtained by deconvolution methods.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) for financial support, under CTM2017-87107-R and the Catalan Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) for financial support, under 2017-SGR-907. We should also like to thank the Universitat Politècnica de València for finantial support under the “Programa propio para la Formación de Personal Investigador (FPI) de la Universitat Politècnica de València—Subprograma 1”, and the Valencian Agency for Security and Emergency for their support (S7042000 (2018)) in the “Development of the Emergency Radiological Surveillance Plan” in the Valencian Community (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Radiactividad Ambiental, MEDASEGI Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Marina Sáez-Muñoz, Josefina Ortiz & Sebastián Martorell

  2. Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, MEDASEGI Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Marina Sáez-Muñoz, Josefina Ortiz, Sofía Carlos & Sebastián Martorell

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Héctor Bagán, Alex Tarancón & José F. García

  4. Serra-Húnter Program, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Alex Tarancón

Authors
  1. Marina Sáez-Muñoz
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  2. Héctor Bagán
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  3. Alex Tarancón
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  4. José F. García
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  5. Josefina Ortiz
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  6. Sofía Carlos
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  7. Sebastián Martorell
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Correspondence to Marina Sáez-Muñoz.

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Sáez-Muñoz, M., Bagán, H., Tarancón, A. et al. Rapid methods for radiostrontium determination in aerosol filters and vegetation in emergency situations using PS resin. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 322, 1397–1408 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06779-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06779-0

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