Considerations of acidifying water samples for 99Tc analysis

Environmental water samples are routinely acidified before radionuclide analysis to prevent adsorption of radionuclides on the container walls. This study addresses the concern for volatilizing 99Tc from acid solutions during evaporation before beta analysis has been addressed. Water samples can be acidified to pH 1.7 with nitric acid and evaporated to dryness on planchets without significant losses of technetium due to volatilization. However, the planchets should not be flamed unless a detergent is used, and control samples should be flamed to determine the loss of activity under the conditions used.