title: Validation of a procedure for the analysis of226Ra in naturally occurring radioactive materials using a liquid scintillation counter.
abstract: An analytical procedure for detecting226Ra in naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) using a liquid scintillation counter (LSC) was developed and validated with reference materials (zircon matrix, bauxite matrix, coal fly ash, and phosphogypsum) that represent typical NORMs. The226Ra was released from samples by a fusion method and was separated using sulfate-coprecipitation. Next, a222Rn-emanation technique was applied for the determination of226Ra. The counting efficiency was 238 ± 8% with glass vials. The recovery for the reference materials was 80 ± 11%. The linearity of the method was tested with different masses of zircon matrix reference materials. Using 15 types of real NORMs, including raw materials and by-products, this LSC method was compared with γ-spectrometry, which had already been validated for226Ra analysis. The correlation coefficient for the results from the LSC method and γ-spectrometry was 0.993 ± 0.058.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Deadeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hckim3@kaeri.re.kr.
authors.forename: Hyuncheol
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Deadeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yoonhee
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Deadeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Yong
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Deadeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Myung
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Deadeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kun Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Deadeok-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-353, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mun Ja
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D001417:Background Radiation; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D012588:Scintillation Counting / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D011883:Radium
keywords: Liquid scintillation counter; Method validation; Naturally occurring radioactive material; Radium-226