Superheated emulsion technique for alpha activity

This paper presents a novel Superheated Emulsion Technique (SET) developed for measuring alpha activity in aqueous solution using bubble detectors. This method involves incorporation of an extractant containing the alpha emitting radionuclide within superheated liquid droplets, its immobilization in a polymer matrix and measurement of bubble nucleation rate using an image analyzer. The inherent ability of SET in discriminating alpha events from beta and gamma events makes it very useful technique in terms of ease and duration of analysis. The results obtained on analysis of uranium in an aqueous solution are presented in this paper. (author)