Measurement of ~(210)Pband its Application toEvaluate Contamination in an Area Affected byNORM Releases

摘要

Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) is an easy and straightforward technique, andcombined with its low limit of detection, makes it a powerful tool for both routine and low levelmeasurements that can be applied to ~(210)Pblow level counting in environmental samples. ~(210)Pb canbe easily measured following a sulphate co-precipitation method; the addition of a carrier and theweighing of the recovered amount is a widespread technique to evaluate radiochemical yield,however, this evaluation of the recovery is sometimes questioned. The samples employed in thiswork were recollected in 1999 and 2005 from the estuary of the Odiel and Tinto rivers (SW ofSpain), which were affected by phosphogypsum (pg.) discharges until 1998. Phosphogypsumcontains most of the ~(210)Pbfrom the treated raw material, for that reason analysed riverbedsediments have enhanced ~(210)Pbactivity concentrations and hence, enhanced activity concentrationof its daughter ~(210)Po,both in secular equilibrium after two years.