Determination of strontium-90 in deer bones by liquid scintillation spectrometry after separation on Sr-specific ion exchange columns

The activity concentration of 90Sr was determined in several deer bones from Austria. Strontium specific ion exchange columns with 4′,4″(5″)-di-t-butylcyclohexane-18-crown-6 from Eichrom Industries, Inc. were used for separation. The yield of the chemical procedure was quantified with AAS. Directly after column separation, the solution containing 90Sr was mixed with the scintillation cocktail HiSafe III and measured by liquid scintillation counting. Prevention of 210Pb contamination and reusability of the separation columns was investigated as well as the activity distribution within the bones. Results were compared with pre-Chernobyl measurements in Austria; a correlation between activity concentration of 90Sr and site altitude was found.