title: Robustness of plastic scintillation microspheres in the continuous measurement of different river waters.
abstract: Plastic scintillation microspheres (PSm) represent one of the most promising options for monitoring alpha and beta radioactivity in river water. For that reason, a study of the stability of PSm packed into a cell against the continuous flow of river water with different degrees of turbidity was performed over a period of 100h. The results showed that the volume of the cell became stable after 15h of pumping and continued to be stable throughout the 100h of the experiment. During this period of time, the detection efficiency of the PSm, in terms of efficiency*volume, presented mean values of 0.75(3)% for (3)H and 272(11)% for (90)Sr/(90)Y. No dependence on flow time or river water type was observed. The background was also constant for 100h and for the different water types, although (222)Rn should be removed from the water beforehand to prevent its accumulation in the PSm. Since PSm did not present any degradation throughout the whole experiment, PSm can undoubtedly be used for monitoring radioactivity with low reagent consumption, low waste generation and low maintenance costs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: alex.tarancon@ub.edu.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tarancón
authors.affiliation: Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Novella
authors.affiliation: Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batlle
authors.affiliation: Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pujadas
authors.affiliation: Adasa Sistemas, José Agustín Goytisolo 30, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cros
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: García
mesh_terms: D000512:Alpha Particles; D001610:Beta Particles; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008863:Microspheres; D010969:Plastics; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012588:Scintillation Counting / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013030:Spain; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D014316:Tritium / Q000032:analysis; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D015021:Yttrium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D015021:Yttrium Radioisotopes; D014316:Tritium; C000615496:Yttrium-90; C000615490:Strontium-90