Ia. Kashirin et al., Liquid scintillation determination of low level components in complex mixtures of radionuclides, APPL RAD IS, 53(1-2), 2000, pp. 303-308
A new approach to simultaneous activity measurements of the complex radionu
clide mixtures using liquid scintillation counting, which is applicable to
the analysis of the environmental and technological samples, is presented.
The method is based on specially developed software 'SpectraDec', realized
on a Windows 95/98/NT platform and a spectra library created for different
kinds and levels of quenching. The method allows analysis of complex mixtur
es when the activity ratios of the individual components vary considerably,
For example, the radionuclide concentrations were successfully determined
in the following complex mixture: H-3, Ni-63, Sr-90 + Y-90, Cs-137, Am-241
(model mixture), where the Sr-90 + Y-90/H-3 activity ratio was 1/2500 (0.2
Bq/500 Bq) and Sr-90, Cs-137, Cs-134, Th-232, Ra-226 (IAEA-reference sample
), where the Sr-90/Cs-137 activity ratio was 1/50 (92 Bq/4515 Bq) with an a
ccuracy of about 20%, The limitations of the given approach to the LS analy
sis of the radionuclide mixtures are considered. (C) 2000 Published by Else
vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.