Measurement of low levels of normal uranium in water and urine by liquid scintillation alpha counting

Abstract

The amounts of normal uranium in water and in urine have been measured as low as 0.1 μg/ml (6×10 −8 μCi/ml) by liquid scintillation counting methods. An emulsifier system was used to incorporate up to 5 ml of an aqueous solution in a 15 ml counting solution (10 ml of scintillation cocktail plus 5 ml of aqueous solution) with 100% counting efficiency for the alpha particles from the 234U, 235U and 238U radionuclides. Use of a multichannel analyzer allows corrections for the presence of short-lived beta emitters in the uranium decay chain.