Simultaneous separation of actinides and technetium from large volumes of natural water for their determination

Monitoring of radionuclide concentration in natural samples is important for assessing environmental safety. The low concentration of long-lived radionuclides require concentration from large volumes of natural water samples. This paper presents a method for sequential separation and simultaneous determination of radioisotopes of U, Pu, Am and Tc in water samples. Actinides and technetium were pre-concentrated by coprecipitation with iron hydroxides from the aqueous sample. Separation of actinides and Tc was achieved by extraction chromatography. The developed method allows separation of actinide and technetium from 100 L water with chemical yields between 40 and 70%.