Influence of Ba concentration on Ra and ²¹⁰Pb extraction from aqueous samples using EMPORE® radium RAD disks

The separation procedure for Ra isotopes and ²¹⁰Pb from water using the EMPORE™ radium RAD disks is very quick and convenient. However, higher levels of the chemically similar Ba in the water at least partly prohibit the uptake of Ra and ²¹⁰Pb, hampering the correct determination of these radionuclides. This investigation shows that the decrease of extraction yield in dependence of the Ba mass is much slower for Ra than for ²¹⁰Pb: With a Ba content ≤ 1 mg in the water sample, ²²⁶Ra could be separated completely, ²¹⁰Pb, however, showed a decreasing recovery already at 0.1 mg Ba addition. (author)