Supercritical water pretreatment method for analysis of strontium and uranium in soil (Andosols)

Mika Nagaoka; Hiroki Fujita; Taku Michael Aida; Haixin Guo; Richard Lee Smith Jr

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109465

Supercritical water pretreatment method for analysis of strontium and uranium in soil (Andosols)

Appl Radiat Isot. 2021 Feb:168:109465. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109465. Epub 2020 Nov 12.

Authors

Mika Nagaoka¹, Hiroki Fujita¹, Taku Michael Aida², Haixin Guo³, Richard Lee Smith Jr⁴

Affiliations

¹ Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 4-33 Muramatsu, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki 319-1194, Japan.
² Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Fukuoka University, 8-19-1 Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka, 814-0180, Japan. Electronic address: tmaida@fukuoka-u.ac.jp.
³ Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-11 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
⁴ Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-11 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan. Electronic address: smith@scf.che.tohoku.ac.jp.

PMID: 33218917
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109465

Abstract

Hydrothermal pretreatment of soils (Andosols) from Ibaraki prefecture (Japan) was used to improve methods for monitoring radioactive Sr and U. Calcined samples were pretreated with subcritical or supercritical water (SCW) followed by extraction with 0.5 M HNO₃ solutions. With SCW pretreatment, recoveries of Sr and U were 70% and 40%, respectively. Experimental recoveries obtained can be described by a linear relationship in water density. The proposed method is robust and can lower environmental burden of routine analytical protocols.

Keywords: Analytical methods; Hydrothermal pretreatment; Soil monitoring; Strontium; Uranium.

MeSH terms

Radiation Monitoring / methods
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*
Strontium Radioisotopes / analysis
Uranium / analysis
Water Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*

Substances

Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
Strontium Radioisotopes
Water Pollutants, Radioactive
Uranium