Improved technique for the routine determination of tritiated water in aqueous samples Original Research Article

A straightforward technique involving sub-boiling distillation has been developed for the purification of river and effluent water samples prior to the determination of tritium (3H) by liquid scintillation analysis. The study evaluates the efficiency of sub-boiling distillation for decontaminating mixed β/γ emitters which could interfere with the tritium determination. The technique effectively purifies tritiated water in aqueous samples from the major contaminating radioisotopes including 22Na, 54Mn, 60Co, 65Zn, 88Y, 137Cs and 155Eu. However, the technique requires less analyst set-up and supervision time than conventional distillation techniques and larger sample batches can therefore be routinely analysed. Recent improvements to the design of the sub-boiling unit and applications of the unit are also discussed.