Abstract
Radium isotopes can be analyzed by different analytical methods based on gamma spectrometric measurements or alpha spectrometry. An improved method was developed to determine radium isotopes from water using gamma spectrometry after radiochemical separation. The Radium was selectively extracted from acidified samples using co-precipitation procedure with iron hydroxide and followed by precipitation of radium as radium sulphate Ba(Ra)SO4. The precipitate Ba(Ra)SO4 was filtered through the Millipore filter paper, dried and weighed to calculate chemical yield. 226Ra and 228Ra activities were measured using low-background gamma spectrometry in water samples. Radium was pre-concentrated from environmental samples by co-precipitation with BaSO4. The amounts of 226Ra and 228Ra on the sample were obtained by gamma-ray spectrometry for the 351 keVγ-ray from 214Pb and for the 911 keV γ-ray from 228Ac, both in radioactive equilibrium with precursors, respectively. The accuracy, selectivity, traceability, applicability and Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of the technique were discussed. Also, the effect of physical and chemical characteristics of the water samples such as TDS, pH, soluble species, sulphate and bicarbonate that effect on the radium determination were taking into consideration. The method has been validated with a certified reference material supplied by the International Atomic Energy Agency and reliable results were obtained. The radiochemical yields for radium were 70% - 90% and recovery was 97% and 80% for 226Ra and 228Ra, respectively.
Highlights
Radium (Ra) isotopes are important from the viewpoints of radiation protection and environmental protection
The filter samples were analyzed using HpGe and the results were obtained from the analysis reports of the different sample spectra
The results indicated that the concentration of 226Ra ranged from 1.02 - 8.1 and 3.1 7.9 mBq·L−1 of analyzed water samples
Summary
Radium (Ra) isotopes are important from the viewpoints of radiation protection and environmental protection. Gamma spectrometry is a useful non-destructive method that permits the simultaneous determination of many radionuclides in a bulk sample [2,3], without the need for complicated and time consuming radiochemical separations as undertaken for alpha spectrometry. It is limited by the weak emission probabilities of many potentially useful emission lines, the relatively poor efficiency of the High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors over a wide range of energy, the difficult task of precisely calibrating the efficiency of the detector, and the need to evaluate self-absorption effects [4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
