Simple Determination Method Using ICP-MS for 129I in Radioactive Liquid Waste Solidified with Bitumen

• Published in: Bunseki kagaku Vol. 61; no. 10; pp. 845 - 849
• Main Authors: KAMEO, Yutaka, ISHIMORI, Ken-ichiro, SHIMADA, Asako, TAKAHASHI, Kuniaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Japan Science and Technology Agency 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Bitumens; Decomposition; Electric furnaces; Inductively coupled plasma; Liquid wastes; Mass spectrometers; Radioactivity; Simulation
• ISSN: 0525-1931
• DOI: 10.2116/bunsekikagaku.61.845

A simple determination method was developed to measure 129I in low-level radioactive liquid waste solidified with bitumen. A simulated bituminized product sample was cut into 0.02 g pieces ; subsequently, these pieces and sodium carbonate were heated in an electric furnace. This procedure could well decompose the bituminized sample without volatilizing 129I. Sixty to seventy-five percent of 129I was recovered by a solid-phase extraction disk from a solution containing the decomposed sample. A dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer was applied to measure 129I ; as a result, detection limit of 129I was reduced by a factor of about 6 compared with the conventional ICP-MS measurement. The determined radioactivity concentration for the simulated bituminized sample containing 129I was in good agreement with the expected value within a 6% error.