A Rapid Method for Radiochemical Analysis of ⁹⁰Sr in Soils

⁹⁰Sr in many soil samples should be analyzed, so that radioactive pollution level in nuclear facilities and its surrounding environment can be surveyed efficiently. In this paper, a rapid radioanalytical method of ⁹⁰Sr in soils was developed. The main procedures consist of pretreatment, oxalate precipitation, Sr·Spec resin chromatographic separation, and radioactivity determination by time correction or dual labeling method using liquid scintillation spectrometry. Typically, a sample can be analyzed in 6 h. The chemical yield is about 60%, and the minimum detectable activity by this technique is about 8 Bq/kg.