Radiological interferences and chemical matrix effects on the application of radiochromatography to environmental and waste samples

The coupling of liquid chromatography and on-line scintillation has demonstrated the capability of separating anionic and cationic activation/fission products in aqueous matrices, as well as the separation and detection of actinides. However, the development work to date has been with aqueous samples of relatively high chemical purity with radionuclide concentrations that are considerably above environmental levels. For this technology to be applicable to environmental and waste samples, the effects on chromatography from radiological interferences and the chemical matrix of the sample must be considered. Radiological interferences from co-eluting radioisotopes can impact radiation detection while the chemical matrix of the sample can affect the chromatographic separation of the radionuclides as well as foul the flow-cell detector. In this study, radiological interferences from the natural radioactive series and several activation/fission products and the chemical interferences from compounds that are ubiquitous in nature were investigated for their effect on the separation of a mixed beta-emitting radionuclide solution