A compact tritium enrichment unit for large sample volumes with automated re-filling and higher enrichment factor.

Autor: Kumar B; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: B.Kumar@iaea.org., Han LF; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Wassenaar LI; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Klaus PM; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Kainz GG; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Hillegonds D; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Brummer D; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Ahmad M; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Belachew DL; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Araguás L; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria., Aggarwal P; Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine [Appl Radiat Isot] 2016 Dec; Vol. 118, pp. 80-86. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Jul 20.
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.07.018
Abstrakt: Tritium ( 3 H) in natural waters is a powerful tracer of hydrological processes, but its low concentrations require electrolytic enrichment before precise measurements can be made with a liquid scintillation counter. Here, we describe a newly developed, compact tritium enrichment unit which can be used to enrich up to 2L of a water sample. This allows a high enrichment factor (>100) for measuring low 3 H contents of <0.05TU. The TEU uses a small cell (250mL) with automated re-filling and a CO 2 bubbling technique to neutralize the high alkalinity of enriched samples. The enriched residual sample is retrieved from the cell under vacuum by cryogenic distillation at -20°C and the tritium enrichment factor for each sample is accurately determined by measuring pre- and post- enrichment 2 H concentrations with laser spectrometry.
(Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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