Determination of ⁹⁰Sr and ²¹⁰Pb in sludge samples using a LOV-MSFIA system and liquid scintillation counting.
There has been increasing interest recently in the capacity of water treatment plants to concentrate and eliminate radionuclides from raw water. As the normal operation in these plants generates high quantities of sludge, which can be considered a naturally occurring radioactive material, it is important to gather information about its radiological content. Therefore, in order to determine the activity values of two radioactive beta emitters with minimal sample manipulation, an automated lab-on-valve and multisyringe flow injection system has been developed to achieve the sequential preconcentration and separation of (90)Sr and (210)Pb using an extraction chromatographic resin (Sr-spec). Activities of both isotopes were measured by liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The developed method was validated by analyzing three samples from three different intercomparison exercises and good Z-score values (between 0.1 and 1) and trueness values (between 10% and 17%) were obtained. The method was then also satisfactorily applied to sludge samples taken from a Spanish drinking water treatment plant which treats water from the Ebro River. The proposed method offers advantages over existing methods as it allows the sequential separation of both isotopes, simply by changing the elution conditions and using a semi-automated approach. Therefore, the method is less time consuming and environmentally friendly.
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitària (URAIS), Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra Nacional 340, km 1094, 43895 L'Ampolla, Spain.
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M
Mola
Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra. Valldemossa km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
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Avivar
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitària (URAIS), Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra Nacional 340, km 1094, 43895 L'Ampolla, Spain.
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Nieto
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitària (URAIS), Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra Nacional 340, km 1094, 43895 L'Ampolla, Spain.
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Peñalver
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitària (URAIS), Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra Nacional 340, km 1094, 43895 L'Ampolla, Spain.
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C
Aguilar
Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra. Valldemossa km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
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L
Ferrer
Chemistry Department, University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra. Valldemossa km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
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Cerdà
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Marcel·lí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Unitat de Radioquímica Ambiental i Sanitària (URAIS), Consorci d'Aigües de Tarragona (CAT), Ctra Nacional 340, km 1094, 43895 L'Ampolla, Spain. Electronic address: francesc.borrull@urv.cat.
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Borrull
(210)Pb; (90)Sr; Lab-on-valve – multisyringe flow injection analysis; Liquid scintillation counting; Sludge