Investigation of a new approach for 36 Cl determination in solid samples using plastic scintillators.

This work reports a new approach for the determination of ³⁶ Cl in radioactive waste samples from nuclear decommissioning, wherein novel plastic scintillator (PS) materials were used for the concentration of ³⁶ Cl prior to the detection with scintillation counting. Different plastic scintillator (PS) materials were tested for their selective absorption and detection of ³⁶ Cl activity in solid samples. PS microspheres (PSm), cross-linked PSm (CPSm) and PS resin have been investigated. PS resin was identified as the most suitable material for ³⁶ Cl analysis. Pyrolysis and subsequent trapping of the volatile elements in a bubbler was used. The trapping solution was finally loaded onto a cartridge of the PS resin. Scintillation counting and ion chromatography were used to determine the activity concentration and the chemical recovery, respectively.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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