Abstract:
Based on the customized quench index
qx for
90Y and the modified 2-window approach, a simple method has been developed to analyze
90Sr using a liquid scintillation spectrometer, sometimes supplemented by γ spectrometer. The liquid scintillation counting(LSC) spectrum of
90Y exhibits good linearity in the high-energy part, on the basis of which
qx is defined. The key point of the modified 2-window approach is to obtain the ratio of the count rates of two windows(also known as region of interest, or ROI), CR
H/CR
W, where CR
W is the count rate in ROI
W, i.e. the whole region of interest(usually taken as channels 1-
1024); CR
H is the count rate in ROI
H, i.e. the high-energy region of interest. The right endpoint of ROI
H is usually fixed at channel
1024, and the left endpoint varies with the quenching level of the sample. This paper provides a method to select the left endpoint of ROI
H and to keep the value of CR
H/CR
W about
0.2779, with the relative standard deviation of 0.84%. There are two prerequisites for using this method: (1) the quenching level of the sample is relatively low, in order that the counting efficiency of
90Sr or
90Y can be approximately considered as 100% in ROI
W; (2) there is no interference from other nuclides than
90Y in ROI
H. Three types of real samples from the hot test of high-level radioactive waste separation have been analyzed to show the specific steps of using this method. Because of the radioactive equilibrium of
90Sr/
90Y in these samples, three ways of calculating the count rate of
90Sr have been adopted to verify each other. The first one is to obtain the count rate of
90Sr by subtracting the count rate of
90Y from the total count rate of
90Sr/
90Y. The second one is just to let the count rate of
90Sr be equal to the count rate of
90Y. The third one is to divide the total count rate of
90Sr/
90Y by 2 to obtain the count rate of
90Sr. The results indicate that the count rate of
90Sr obtained by this method is accurate and reliable. This method only requires linear fitting of the high-energy part of the LSC spectra. The method is simple and easy to use. With the application suggestions, users can choose appropriate analysis strategies according to the characteristics and analysis requirements of the sample. For analyzing
90Sr in samples of
90Sr/
90Y with or without
137Cs, neither chemical separation nor waiting for the radioactive equilibrium of
90Sr/
90Y is required, if the count rate of
90Sr is not too low.