Field deployable technique for 90Sr emergency bioassay.
Rapid bioassay is very important for immediate and near-term consequence management, which includes identifying contaminated individuals and providing necessary medical intervention during a radiological or nuclear emergency. This paper reports the application of a newly developed bioassay technique for (90)Sr in urine on a field deployable instrument, the Triathler. Performance of this field technique for sensitivity, accuracy and repeatability is evaluated against bioassay criteria (ANSI N13.30). This field technique offers the following analytical merits: (1) minimum detectable activity of 121 Bq l(-1) when 20 ml of urine is used; (2) relative bias of 11.1 % and relative precision of 3.2 % at the level of 45 Bq per 20 ml of urine and (3) sample turnaround time of less than 1 h. The technique meets the requirements for emergency bioassay when a committed effective dose of 0.5 Sv is used as the action dose threshold for medical intervention. Sample throughput can be significantly improved if this technique is automated.
Li
C
C
Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada. li_chunsheng@hc-sc.gc.ca
Sadi
B B
BB
Moodie
G
G
Daka
J N
JN
Lai
E P C
EP
Kramer
G H
GH
D000328:Adult; D001681:Biological Assay; D006801:Humans; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000379:methods*; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry*
D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes