Article: Volume reduction of water samples to increase sensitivity for radioassay of lead contamination
Applied water science. 2022 July, v. 12, no. 7
2022
Abstract: The World Health Organisation (WHO) presents an upper limit for lead in drinking water of 10 parts per billion ppb. Typically, to reach this level of sensitivity, expensive metrology is required. To increase the sensitivity range of low-cost devices, ... ...
| Abstract | The World Health Organisation (WHO) presents an upper limit for lead in drinking water of 10 parts per billion ppb. Typically, to reach this level of sensitivity, expensive metrology is required. To increase the sensitivity range of low-cost devices, this paper explores the prospects of using a volume reduction technique of a boiled water sample doped with Lead-210 ([Formula: see text] Pb), as a means to increase the solute’s concentration. [Formula: see text]Pb is a radioactive lead isotope and its concentration in a water sample can be measured with e.g. High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors at the Boulby Underground Germanium Suite. Concentrations close to the WHO limit have not been examined. This paper presents a measurement of the volume reduction technique retaining [Formula: see text]% of [Formula: see text]Pb starting from a concentration of [Formula: see text] ppb before reduction and resulting in [Formula: see text] ppb after reduction. This work also applies the volume reduction technique to London tap water and reports the radioassay results from gamma counting in HPGe detectors. Among other radio-isotopes, [Formula: see text]K, [Formula: see text]Pb, [Formula: see text]I and [Formula: see text]Lu were identified at measured concentrations of [Formula: see text] ppb, [Formula: see text] ppb, [Formula: see text] ppb and [Formula: see text] ppb in the London tap water sample. This technique retained [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text]K. Stable lead was inferred from the same water sample at a measured concentration of 0.012 ppb, prior to reduction. |
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| Keywords | World Health Organization ; germanium ; isotopes ; metrology ; radionuclides ; solutes ; tap water ; water |
| Language | English |
| Dates of publication | 2022-07 |
| Size | p. 151. |
| Publishing place | Springer International Publishing |
| Document type | Article |
| ZDB-ID | 2594789-8 |
| ISSN | 2190-5495 ; 2190-5487 |
| ISSN (online) | 2190-5495 |
| ISSN | 2190-5487 |
| DOI | 10.1007/s13201-022-01669-5 |
| Database | NAL-Catalogue (AGRICOLA) |
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