Scintillating extraction chromatographic resin for quantification of aqueous radioactivity

Experiments were performed to investigate the feasibility of a dual-purpose flow-cell radiation detector for aqueous waste streams. The radiochemical sensor consists of <500 μm GS-20 scintillating glass particles that were coated with a patented crown ether or diphonic acid extraction chromatographic material. The extraction material served as a means to retain the radioactive cations that were in solution while the scintillating substrate was used to quantify the amount of radioactivity adsorbed to the resin; hence the dual purpose. The capacity factor for ⁹⁰Sr in 3.2 M HNO₃ was determined to be 240 and was estimated to be greater than 700 for ²³⁸Pu in 8M HNO₃. The absolute detection efficiencies for adsorbed ⁹⁰Sr and ²³⁹Pu were measured to be 23% and 52%, respectively. The measured detection efficiency for ⁹⁰Sr was lower than expected, but for ²³⁹Pu is consistent with theoretical predictions