Determination of radioactive strontium in the environment

[ptb] The two radioactive strontium isotopes Sr-89 and Sr-90 are generated as by-products of nuclear fission - also in nuclear power plants. If they get into the environment, they can - due to the chemical similarity of strontium with calcium - get into the human food chain and be stored in the bones. In view of its biological half-life of 17.5 years, one of the two isotopes, Sr-90, is of greater radiological importance. If it has once got into the environment after a release, it can be absorbed with the food, for example with milk. Compared to adulthood, the radiosensitivity is greater in childhood. Reason enough, therefore, to use supersensitive analysis methods for the monitoring of radioactive substances not only in the environment of nuclear power plants, but also all over the country in the measurement stations of the Integrated Measurement and Information System in order to safely recognize the two strontium isotopes and to delimit their activity concentrations against each other. In a new book of the Professional Trade Association for Radiation Protection, conventional analysis and measuring methods - and both routine and fast methods - are summarized. For users in the laboratory, the methods are described in a modular way, i. e. in partial steps. The procedures are assessed in view of their suitability for the different imaginable scenarios for environmental measurements. The validation of the methods was the principal task of the involved scientists of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) - the supreme metrology institute in Germany - which is also responsible for ensuring the metrological traceability of the measurement of radioactive substances in the environment to national primary standards.

Fachverband für Strahlenschutz (Hrs.): Moderne Routine- und Schnellmethoden zur Bestimmung von Sr-89 und Sr-90 bei der Umweltüberwachung. "Fortschritte im Strahlenschutz" Nr. FS-08-147-AKU, Verlag TÜV Media GmbH, Köln, Februar 2008.

The book can be ordered from by: Dr. W. Speer, Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde,
Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz, e-mail: speer@bafg.de

Contact
Dr. Herbert Wershofen, PTB Working Group 6.12 Environmental Radioactivity,
Phone +49531 592 - 6120, e-mail: herbert.wershofen@ptb.de