Radiochemical neutron activation analysis for trace chlorine in steels and alloys.

Chlorine is usually present at low concentrations in reactor materials and thermal neutron activation of (35)Cl produces (36)Cl, which has a long half-life and is a radionuclide of significance in nuclear waste disposal. This paper describes a radiochemical method that has been developed to measure low concentrations of Cl in reactor stainless steels, so that the amount of (36)Cl in radioactive wastes can be estimated. The method is based on the irradiation of a 1 g sample in a thermal neutron flux of 10(16) n m(-)(2) s(-)(1), followed by dissolution in HNO(3) with the addition of stable KCl carrier/tracer.

The determination of 129I in milk and vegetation using neutron activation analysis.

A new method has been developed to measure 129I in the environment with detection limits below 10 mBq/kg of vegetation and 10 mBq/l of cows' milk. The method is based on extraction of 129I from the milk or vegetation sample, onto an ion exchange resin. An inactive carrier of 127I is added to the sample before separation, to monitor losses throughout the entire procedure.

Environmental and personnel monitoring for uranium by delayed neutron counting.

At the Imperial College Reactor Centre we have developed a fully automated, large sample, high sensitivity delayed neutron counting system for routine analysis of environmental samples and personnel monitoring. Two-hundred fifty samples with a maximum volume of 30 ml can be analysed each working day. The detection limits (3 sigma) for uranium of natural isotopic abundance in our routine samples are typically 1 microgram/kg (0.

A simple automatic gamma counter based upon the IAEA radioimmunoassay instrument.

A relatively inexpensive modification is described to the IAEA automatic gamma counter based upon the Kodak Carousel projector. The instrument is capable of counting up to three energies simultaneously, ranging from 30 keV to 1 MeV.