Sampling and Data Treatment Methods Sampling Methods in Surface Waters, Munro Mortimer, Jochen F. Muller, and Matthias Liess Methods of Treatment of Data, Riccardo Leardi Radioanalytical Analysis Radioanalytical Methodology for Water Analysis, Jorge S. Alvarado Organoleptical Analysis Organoleptical Methodology, Abdul Moheman, Md. Musawwer Khan, and K. S. Siddiqi Analysis of Biological Parameters Bacteriological Analysis of Water, Paulinus Chigbu and Salina Parveen Marine Toxins Analysis, Luis M. Botana, A. Alfonso, M. R. Vieytes, N. Vilarino, A. M. Botana, C. Louzao, and C. Vale Algal Analysis, Leonardo Rubi Rorig Halogens, N-Compounds, and Phosphates Halogens, Geza Nagy and Livia Nagy Analysis of Sulfur Compounds in Water, Leo M. L. Nollet Determination of Ammonia in Water Samples, Juliana Antunes Galvao, Alexandre Matthiensen, Marilia Oetterer, Y. Moliner-Martinez, R. A. Gonzalez-Fuenzalida, M. Munoz-Ortuno, R. Herraez-Hernandez, J. Verdu-Andres, C. Molins-Legua, and P. Campins Falco Nitrites and Nitrates, Adnan Aydin Phosphates in Aquatic Systems, Alexandre Matthiensen, Juliana Antunes Galvao, and Marilia Oetterer Cyanides, Asbestos, Metals, and Si-Compounds Cyanides, Leo M. L. Nollet Asbestos in Water, James S. Webber Heavy Metals, Major Metals, Trace Elements, Jorge E. Marcovecchio, Sandra E. Botte, Claudia E. Domini, and Ruben H. Freije Determination of Silicon and Silicates, Salah M. Sultan Organic Parameters Main Parameters and Assays Involved with the Organic Pollution of Water, Lorena Vidal, Claudia E. Domini, and Antonio Canals Determination of Organic Nitrogen in the Aquatic Environment, Juliana Antunes Galvao, Alexandre Matthiensen, and Marilia Oetterer Determination of Urea in Aquatic Samples, Juliana Antunes Galvao, Alexandre Matthiensen, and Marilia Oetterer Organic Acids, Mercedes Gallego Fernandez, Evaristo Ballesteros Tribaldo, and Beatriz Jurado Sanchez Determination of Volatile Organic Compounds in Water, Ivan P. Roman Falco and Marta Nogueroles Moya Phenolic and Humic Compounds Determination of Phenolic Compounds in Water, Leo M. L. Nollet Characterization of Humic Matter, Leo M. L. Nollet Residues of Pesticides Determination of Pesticides in Water, Evaristo Ballesteros Tribaldo Analysis of Herbicide and Fungicide Residues in Waters, N. Sridhara Chary, Maria Jose Gomez Ramos, and Amadeo R. Fernandez-Alba Residues of PCBs, PCDDs, PCDFS, and PAHs Analysis of PCBs in Waters, L. Bartolome, O. Zuloaga, and N. Etxebarria PCDDs and PCDFs, Luigi Turrio-Baldassarri, Paola Pettine, and Laura Achene Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Chimezie Anyakora Surfactants and Petroleum Hydrocarbon Analysis Surfactants, Eva Pocurull and Rosa Maria Marce Petroleum Hydrocarbon Analysis, Ivan P. Roman Falco EDCs and Residues of Plastics Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Personal Care Products, Dimitra A. Lambropoulou and Eleni Evgenidou Residues of Plastics, Dimitra A. Lambropoulou and Eleni Evgenidou Index

Handbook of Water Analysis

The thesis deals with the occurrence of 238U-series radionuclides and particlebound 210Pb and 210Po in Finnish groundwater-based drinking water, methods used for removing 234U, 238U, 210Pb and 210Po, and the annual effective doses caused by 238U-series radionuclides in drinking water. In order to reduce radiation exposure and avoid high doses, it is important to examine the activity levels of natural radionuclides in groundwater. In this work, the activity concentrations of radon (222Rn), radium (226Ra), uranium (238U and 234U), lead (210Pb) and polonium (210Po) were determined from 472 private wells, which were selected randomly from across Finland. On the basis of the results, the activity concentrations in groundwater and the radiation exposure from drinking water of people living outside the public water supply in Finland was specified. The efficiency of 238U, 234U, 210Pb and 210Po removal from drinking water was examined at ten private homes. In order to obtain accurate results and correct estimates of effective doses, attention was paid to the sampling of 222Rn and 210Pb, and the determination of 210Pb. The results revealed that the median activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were as much as ten times higher in drilled wells than in wells dug in soil. The average activity concentration of 222Rn in drilled wells was 460 Bq/l and in dug wells 50 Bq/l. The highest activity concentrations were found in Southern Finland. In addition, occasional high activity concentrations were found all over Finland. The average activity concentrations of 234U and 238U in drilled wells were 0.35 and 0.26 Bq/l and in dug wells 0.020 and 0.015 Bq/l, respectively. The spatial distribution of 234U, 238U, 210Pb and 210Po was essentially similar to that of 222Rn. In contrast to other natural radionuclides, the highest 226Ra activity concentrations were found in coastal areas, since drilled well water near the sea has a higher salinity than water in drilled wells inland. 210Pb and 210Po occur in untreated groundwater as ions, molecules, complexes and bound to particles of different sizes depending on the chemical quality of the water. In Finnish groundwater, the majority of 210Pb was bound to the large particle fraction. Compared to 210Pb, 210Po was bound more to the intermediate and small particle fraction.

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238U–series radionuclides in Finnish groundwater-based drinking water and effective doses

Principles of ultralow-level liquid scintillation spectrometers are introduced in this chapter. The sources of background signals and the means to reduce background are discussed. Electronic pulse discrimination and anticoincidence counting allow the determination of low radioactivities and the separation of α- and β-events into their respective spectra. These features make liquid scintillation counting (LSC) methods practical for simultaneous detection of low α and β activities in environmental samples, which are described. LSC methods are presented and discussed for 3 H, 14 C, 63 Ni, 89 Sr, 90 Sr/ 90 Y, and 99 Tc, transuranium elements including plutonium and for most important natural radionuclides, 222 Rn, Ra, U and Th isotopes, and 210 Pb and 210 Po. Because the radiation exposure from environmental radioactivity arises largely from natural radionuclides, the importance of their analyses is discussed along with the sensitive methods used for their analysis. A section is devoted to radiometric methods to differentiate between biogenic and fossil 14 C in fuels. Spectrum unfolding or deconvolution of low-activity α-spectra is discussed.

Environmental Liquid Scintillation Analysis

We applied three procedures using two α liquid scintillation spectrometers (PERALS and TRI-CARB) and two scintillation cocktails (Alphaex and Ultima Gold LLT) for the determination of α-emitter low activities. For each procedure, the limit of detection, the resolution, the separation factor, and the Fischer coefficient were determined in order to perform 232U−234U−238U isotopic measurements. The deconvolution usually performed is clean when the PERALS spectrometer is used. This is not possible for the TRI-CARB spectrometer using the Ultima Gold LLT scintillation cocktail. This problem was solved by combining the advantages of both techniques using the Alphaex scintillation cocktail in the TRI-CARB spectrometer. Under these conditions, the limit of detection was improved, the resolution decreased from 500−800 to 420−590 keV, and the separation factor increased from 0.9 to 1.1−1.2. This third procedure was applied with success for 232U−234U−238U isotopic experiments.

Comparison and Improvement of the Determinations of Actinide Low Activities Using Several α Liquid Scintillation Spectrometers

Rapid determination of uranium activity and concentration in water by alpha liquid scintillation with α/β discrimination

An extraction procedure utilizing alpha liquid scintillation was evaluated for the rapid determination of uranium in aqueous environmental samples. The extraction efficiency of the system was measured under varying chemical conditions including pH. The procedure was evaluated against a traditional radiochemical technique using both laboratory prepared control samples and actual groundwater. Finally, the possibility of obtaining isotopic information from the liquid scintillation spectra was also investigated using a curve fitting routine.

J. R. Cadieux

Papers

Evaluation of a direct extraction/liquid scintillation counting technique for the measurement of uranium in water