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Determination of alpha activity in solid samples by leaching or digestion.

J de la Torre Pérez¹, M Jurado Vargas, A Martín Sánchez

¹Department of Physics, University of Extremadura, E-06006 Badajoz, Spain.

Applied Radiation and Isotopes : Including Data, Instrumentation and Methods for Use in Agriculture, Industry and Medicine

|April 13, 2013

Summary

Comparing acid leaching and microwave digestion for analyzing natural radionuclides in environmental samples showed similar results. Both methods effectively dissolve uranium, thorium, radium, and polonium for alpha spectrometry.

Keywords:

Acid leaching Alpha-particle spectrometry Microwave acid digestion

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Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Analytical Chemistry
Nuclear Science

Background:

Alpha-particle spectrometry is crucial for analyzing natural radionuclides in environmental samples.
Sample preparation often requires matrix destruction and radionuclide dissolution for accurate measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

To compare the effectiveness of acid leaching versus microwave digestion for radionuclide extraction.
To evaluate the impact of sample preparation methods on the measured activities of natural radionuclides.

Main Methods:

Analysis of natural radionuclides ((238)U, (234)U, (230)Th, (226)Ra, (210)Po) in well-characterized environmental materials.
Comparison of two sample preparation techniques: acid leaching and microwave oven digestion.
Measurement of radionuclide activities using alpha-particle spectrometry.

Main Results:

Both acid leaching and microwave digestion yielded very similar measured activities for the studied natural radionuclides.
A strong statistical correlation was observed between the radionuclide activities obtained by the two procedures.
No significant difference in radionuclide recovery was found between the tested methods.

Conclusions:

Both acid leaching and microwave digestion are suitable and comparable methods for preparing environmental samples for radionuclide analysis.
The choice of method may depend on laboratory capabilities and specific sample matrices, but results are generally consistent.
These findings support the reliability of alpha-particle spectrometry for environmental radionuclide monitoring regardless of the chosen digestion technique.