Examination of a Method for Rapid Determination of Strontium-90 in Agricultural and Livestock Products, Indicator Plants Using Solid-phase Extraction with DGA Resin

Abstract

Strontium-90 (⁹⁰Sr) is an important radionuclide for understanding the effects of nuclear-related facilities on the surrounding environment, however the conventional method for determination of ⁹⁰Sr is complicated and time consuming. Therefore, we examined a rapid determination method for separation and purification of Y from agricultural and livestock products, indicator plants by means of solid-phase extraction with DGA resin. The resin is then used to determine ⁹⁰Sr by detection of yttrium-90 (⁹⁰Y), which exists in secular equilibrium with ⁹⁰Sr. The method was tested on ⁹⁰Sr-spiked samples (milk) and a certified reference material (IAEA-330), and the trueness values were 108% and 107% for milk, 111% for IAEA-330. In addition, stable Y recoveries exceeded 0.81 in the tests. The ratio of values measured by our examined method and the conventional method ranged from 0.75 to 1.15, and the ⁹⁰Sr detection limit ranged from 0.02 to 0.05 Bq/kg fresh weight. The sample-throughput time for the examined method was approximately 3 weeks shorter than that of the conventional method.