title: Method comparison for 241Am emergency urine bioassay.
abstract: 241Am is one of the high-risk radionuclides that might be used in a terrorist attack. 241Am in urine bioassay can identify the contaminated individuals who need immediate medical intervention and decontamination. This paper compares three methods for the measurement of 241Am in urine, namely liquid scintillation counting (LSC), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gamma spectrometry (GS), at two levels, 20 and 2 Bq l(-1). All three methods satisfied the ANSI N13.30 radio-bioassay criteria for accuracy and repeatability. ICP-MS offered the best sensitivity and fastest sample turnaround; however, the ICP-MS system used in this work may not be available in many bioassay laboratories. LSC and GS are more commonly available instruments. GS requires minimal or no sample preparation, which makes it a good candidate method. Moreover, the sample throughput can be significantly improved if the GS and LSC methods are automated.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Rd, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Chunsheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Baki
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sadi
authors.forename: Karima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Benkhedda
authors.forename: Nadereh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: St-Amant
authors.forename: Gerry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moodie
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dinardo
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D000576:Americium / Q000737:chemistry*; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D005720:Gamma Rays; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000737:chemistry*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012588:Scintillation Counting; D016482:Urinalysis; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D000576:Americium