Direct analysis method of 14C radioactivity concentration in urine samples

Abstract

ObjectiveTo establish a rapid analysis method for the activity concentration of carbon-14 (14C) in urine, in order to estimate the internal dose of 14C exposure, and to protect the health of occupational population. MethodsLiquid scintillation counting(LSC) combined with the function of transformed spectral index of the external standard spectrum (tSIE) was used to measure the quenching level and counting rate, and the spiked urine samples with different shades of color were measured by LSC. After establishing the efficiency-quenching curve, the quenching correction and activity concentration analysis of the actual samples were carried out. ResultsBy LSC and the data fitting, the relationship between efficiency and quenching index could be represented using the equation y ​= ​0.0013x-0.0177 (R2 ​= ​0.978). Three actual spiked samples were tested to verify this method, with recoveries of 97%, 102%, and 89%, respectively. 14C activity concentration of 4 actual urine samples were 0.12, 0.11, 0.10 and 0.08 Bq/mL, respectively, while the corresponding extended relative uncertainties were 0.0652, 0.0929, 0.0893 and 0.1043, respectively. ConclusionThe direct analysis method of 14C activity concentration in urine samples was established using LSC. The recovery of 14C activity concentration in urine samples showed that the proposed method had relatively high accuracy. By studying on the source of uncertainty, the uncertainty of the analysis results mainly came from the statistical error of LSC, and the uncertainty component of counting efficiency.