Methods for radioactivity measurements in drinking water using gamma spectrometry

Assessment of internal radiation exposure caused by radon in commercially bottled spring waters consumed in Turkey

The variation of dissolved radon levels in water supplies remains of interest since radon ingested through drinking water can give considerable radiation to the lining of the stomach. This study aims to determine the radon concentration levels in bottled spring drinking water (BSW) brands commercially sold in Turkey using a radon gas monitor and to assess the internal radiation exposure caused by the ingestion and inhalation of radon. The activity concentrations of radon analyzed in 77 BSW brands varied from 7.1±0.8 to 28.7±2.7 mBq/L with an average of 15.7±5.1 mBq/L. The total annual effective dose was estimated to assess the radiological risk for three age groups in four different scenarios based on annual drinking water intake. All estimated dose values are well below the recommended reference dose of 100 µSv for drinking water. Therefore, radon gas in the investigated BSW samples poses no significant radiological risk to the public.

The dynamics of the detection of 226Ra in water by scintillation counting in nonequilibrium conditions

The conventional methods for the ²²⁶Ra determination by liquid scintillation counting require to attain secular equilibrium between ²²⁶Ra and ²²²Rn prior to the counting. This study describes a method that allows the immediate counting of a sample after the dissolution of Ba(Ra)SO₄ in EDTA. This results from a detailed modelling of the activity of the parent ²²⁶Ra and its daughters in both the aqueous and organic scintillator phases. This methodology was tested on standard solutions of ²²⁶Ra showing promising results.

Rapid radionuclide specific screening procedures in drinking water: alternative options to replace inaccurate gross activity measurements

It was concluded from two European wide proficiency tests that the gross alpha/beta methods used for drinking water analysis have fundamental pitfalls regardless of the specific gross-counting methods. The majority of gross-counting methods suffer from serious trueness and repeatability issues. To replace inaccurate gross activity measurements an alternative rapid radionuclide specific screening procedure for water analysis is proposed. This procedure considers liquid scintillation counting, alpha-particle- and gamma-ray spectrometry. The proposed procedure is more robust and can achieve lower uncertainties than gross-counting methods. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative analytical data can be obtained with turnaround times comparable to the gross-counting methods.