Verification of a method for measurement of tritium in liquid effluent of nuclear power plants / 中国辐射卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the method for measurement of tritium in nuclear power plant liquid effluent purified by a mixed ion-exchange resin, to verify the feasibility of the method by experiments, and to provide technical support for the development of standard methods for the measurement of tritium in liquid effluent of nuclear power plants. Methods The purification effect of the mixed ion-exchange resin was determined by measuring the quenching factor, conductivity, and β-nuclide adsorption efficiency of the samples purified using the resin. A comparison was made between the ion-exchange resin method and the atmospheric distillation method for tritium determination. The precision and accuracy of the method were verified by calculating the relative standard deviation and the recovery in repeated measurement of samples with different activity concentrations and spiked samples. Results There were no significant differences in quenching factor, conductivity, and tritium activity concentration between the two methods. The adsorption efficiencies of EC20MB resin for common β-nuclides such as carbon, iron, nickel, strontium, yttrium, and cesium ranged from 99.28% to 99.88%. Repeated measurement of the same sample showed relative standard deviations of 5.2%-9.4% and recoveries of 86.8%-107%. Conclusion There were no significant differences between the results of the ion-exchange resin purification method and the atmospheric distillation method. The precision and accuracy of the method met the requirements of the ecological and environmental management authorities for monitoring tritium in liquid effluent from nuclear power plants. This method can be widely used in daily monitoring work.