Investigation of uranium and thorium activities and their isotopic ratios in environmental water samples in Tokushima, Japan, using extraction chromatography and samarium coprecipitation

Abstract

A highly sensitive separation procedure has been developed to investigate uranium and thorium activities and their isotopic ratios in environmental water samples in Tokushima, Japan. Uranium and thorium isotopes in environmental water samples were simultaneously isolated from interfering elements with extraction chromatography using an Eichrom UTEVA™ resin column. After the chemical separation, activities of U and Th isotopes coprecipitated with samarium fluoride (SmF3) were measured by α-spectrometry. It has been confirmed that uranium isotopes are isolated successfully from thorium decay chains by analyzing a test aqueous solution as a simulation of an environmental water sample. The separation procedure has been first applicable to the determination of U and Th activities and their isotopic ratios in a drinking well water named “Kurashimizu” in Tokushima City, Japan. The specific activities of 238U and 232Th in “Kurashimizu” were deduced to be within the upper limits of <0.31 and <0.19 mBq/l, respectively.