Preparation and characterization of MnO- SiO composite resin for Ra pre-concentration in water samples.

The presented work describes an effective method for Ra determination using laboratory- prepared MnO-SiO composite resin. Samples were traced with Ba for radium radiochemical recoveries monitoring which were in the range of (77 - 100%). MnO- SiO composite resin was used to collect for Ra from water samples (pH = 6.5-7.0). Radium was eluted from the column with 50 mL of 4 mol L HNO at a flow rate of 1.5 mL min. Alpha-spectrometric counting of Ba(Ra)SO microprecipitate was used for Ra determination. The new developed method was used to the Ra determination in samples of natural mineral, mountain spring, drinking and natural healing waters from Slovakia and Czech Republic.