Review of analytical techniques for the determination of americium-241 in soils and sediments

This paper reviews the literature on the separation and quantitative determination of 241Am in soils and sediments. It identifies a range of separation techniques that have been employed by various investigators and assesses the merits of each technique to determine a preferred method for the separation of 241Am in a complex matrix such as soil or sediment. The paper also presents the experiences of two U.K. laboratories dealing with the separation of 241Am from sediments revealing problems encountered with unpredictable behaviour of the separation chemistry. Suggestions are offered as to the cause of these problems along with possible solutions to the difficulties.