Age dating of liquid Sr-Y sources.

In the context of age dating of Sr, the selective adsorption of zirconium ions from the mixture with strontium and yttrium by adsorbents based on TiO with a chemically modified surface was investigated. The general features of the separation process of strontium, yttrium, and zirconium in batch conditions were determined. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyze the initial and residual concentrations of the studied cations. Separation of Zr and Sr from a liquid source containing Sr-Y using adsorbents based on TiO was performed for the first time. The ratio of Zr/Sr was measured, and the age of liquid Sr-Y sources was determined. In addition, we studied the age dating of Sr-Y sources using a combination of liquid-scintillation counting of Sr and ICP-MS measurement. The results of both methods - the method of age-dating with the chemical separation of isotopes and the combination of LSC and ICP-MS analysis - agree very well and thus serve for cross-validation. Moreover, the combination of the two methods increases the confidence in the age-dating results of Sr-Y sources.