Uranium Radioactivity Measurement for Low-Level Wastewater Based on Ultra-Low Level Liquid Scintillation Analyzer

In this paper, a method based on ultra-low level liquid scintillation analyzer for measuring uranium radioactivity in low-level radioactive wastewater is proposed. It can easily and quickly measure the radioactivity level of uranium in samples, and even distinguish the main isotopes of uranium.

In low-level wastewater samples, if the uranium isotope has the same or similar composition and ratio to the natural uranium isotope, Comparing to the results in units of mass concentration given by laser-fluoremetry method, the liquid scintillation method can give the results in units of activity concentration, and these two results with different units can interconvert to each other. However, interconversion of results on above two measurement methods cannot be applied in low-level wastewater after uranium enrichment, because the proportion of isotopes with high specific activity in above wastewater, such as ²³⁴U and ²³⁵U, is significantly higher than that without enrichment. The measurement results in units of mass concentration will underestimate the uranium radioactivity level of the sample.

The liquid scintillation method directly gives the results in units of radioactivity activity concentration, and it is more convenient to compare with relevant national standards to determine whether the emission standards are met. The lowest limit of detection of this method is 0.014 Bq L⁻¹ within 600 min.