Analytical method for the determination of 211 At using an α-scintillation camera system and thin-layer chromatography

211 At is artificially produced for medical purposes. To prevent severe loss of short-lived 211 At, a rapid method analyzing both the radioactivity and all chemical forms was required for related fundamental researches. We propose a new method by means of an α-scintillation-camera system comprising of thin-layer chromatography and a high-sensitive CCD camera. The performance of the system was experimentally verified: low-radioactivity 211 At of 56–672 Bq was measured in a short-time of 1000 s and all chemical forms of 211 At were evaluated. The results reveal that the method enables us to analyze two features of 211 At with significantly short-time.