Alpha spectrometry sample preparation using selectively adsorbing thin films

Natural radioactivity measurements and dose calculations to the public: Case of the uranium-bearing region of Poli in Cameroon

“…Uranium isotopes, 226 Ra and 210 Po in water samples. Uranium measurements were based on thin films containing diphosphonate and sulfonate groups that have been shown to have the required selectivity for uranium (Surbeck, 2000). After 20 h of exposure inside an acidified and stirred 100 ml water sample, we obtained an overall yield of 80%.…”

“…After 6 h of exposure, 80% of the 226 Ra was extracted (Surbeck, 2000). The thin film was dried at ambient temperatures and measured using a-spectrometry.…”

Progress towards the development of a rapid analytical approach for separation of 226 Ra using dibenzo-18-crown-6 ether functionalised silica (SiO 2 ) disks

“…Rapid techniques have been developed which combine these steps; by either placing a coated disk in contact with a sample, or passing a sample through impregnated filters. Ra-NucFilm™ disks are comprised of a thin layer of MnO 2 deposited onto the surface of a polyamide disk (Surbeck, 2000). The disks are contacted with the untreated water samples (pH 4 -8, typical volume=100 mL) under stirring for 6 h with reported radium chemical recoveries of > 90% and uranium adsorption of < 5% (Surbeck, 2000;Eikenberg et al, 2001).…”

Deconvolution of liquid scintillation alpha spectra of mixtures of uranium and radium isotopes

“…The uranium isotopes can be determined by alpha spectrometry after chemical separation [3] or pre-concentration on thin films [4]. Also electroplating is used to prepare thin films for the better resolution of the spectra and unambiguous spectrum analysis [3,[5][6][7][8].…”

“…Another method used for radium is the pre-concentration on thin MnO 2 films followed by ␣-spectrometry [1,4,18,19]. Also the radon emanation counting method is employed to estimate radium concentrations.…”