Determination of 226Ra, 224Ra, 228Ra in mineral water samples of the Slovak republic

We used the alpha spectrometric method for the simultaneous determination of 226Ra and 224Ra. Radium was concentrated by lead sulphate co-precipitation. The precipitate was dissolved in EDTA and radium isotopes were separated from possible interfering radionuclides by using micro barium sulphate precipitation. The radium-barium precipitate was filtered out and counted by alpha spectrometry. 133Ba was used to quantify the yield of gamma spectrometry. Average chemical yield was 70 %. Gamma spectrometry was used for the determination of 228Ra in mineral water samples. Radium was concentrated by lead sulphate co-precipitation. 133Ba has been used to quantify the yield by gamma spectrometry. Average chemical yield is 97 %. Furthermore, the effective doses for 226Ra, 224Ra, 228Ra intake via ingestion of mineral waters by general public have been evaluated