Application of Cerenkov radiation for the assay of 226Ra in natural water

A Cerenkov based method has been developed for the determination of 226Ra via its beta-emitting daughters, 214Bi and 214Pb. Radium isotopes are separated from interfering elements by coprecipitation on barium sulphate. The precipitate is dissolved in an alkaline solution of EDTA and the Cerenkov signal produced by the build-up of daughter beta activities is counted after 25 days using the tritium channel of a liquid scintillation counter. To correct for any contribution from the daughters of the radium isotopes 224Ra and 228Ra present in the sample, the barium(radium) sulphate is reprecipitated, dissolved in EDTA, and counted 2 days later. Using this procedure, 228Ra can be determined in the same sample. Cerenkov counting efficiency was found to be 77.25%. A lower limit of detection of 17.4 mBq I−1 (based on 3σ of the background with 500 min counting time) was achieved. Any liquid scintillation counter can be used. Chemical recoveries in the range 75–95% were determined gravimetrically. Data from both artificial spiked samples and natural samples are presented.