title: Determination of selected natural radionuclide concentrations in southwestern Caspian groundwater using liquid scintillation counting.
abstract: Twenty-seven spring water samples from southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea were analysed for their contents of gross alpha and beta, ²²²Rn, ²²⁶Ra and total uranium using a liquid scintillation counter (LSC). Other methods such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) method 900 for gross alpha/beta measurement, radon emanation for ²²⁶Ra determination and laser fluorimetry for total uranium content were applied to make a comparison with the LSC technique. The levels of measured ²²²Rn and ²²⁶Ra range from 0.5 to 54 Bq l⁻¹ and from 14 to 297 mBq l⁻¹, respectively. The levels of gross alpha and beta are from 16 mBq l⁻¹ to 1.0 Bq l⁻¹ and from 22 to 630 mBq l⁻¹, respectively. The total uranium contents are from 3 to 66 mBq l⁻¹. It has been shown that the simple liquid scintillation counting technique could be applied conveniently for such studies where analysis of numerous samples is concerned.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Reymonta 4, Krakow 30-059, Poland.
authors.forename: Sedigheh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jowzaee
mesh_terms: D000512:Alpha Particles; D001610:Beta Particles; D060587:Groundwater / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D012588:Scintillation Counting / Q000379:methods*; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D014501:Uranium; D011886:Radon; D011883:Radium