Sequential inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass-spectrometric quantification of radioactive strontium-90 incorporating cascade separation steps for radioactive contamination rapid survey

Takagai, Yoshitaka*; Furukawa, Makoto*; Kameo, Yutaka ; Suzuki, Katsuhiko*

Radioactive strontium-90 (Sr) scattered by nuclear power plant accident was specifically determined by conventional inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass-spectrometry (ICP-QMS) preceded by on-line chelate column separation and oxygen reaction. After implementing the cascade-step, the detection limit (DL) of quantitative ICP-QMS of Sr from spiked water samples was 2.85 Bq/L (equivalent to 0.56 ppq). Analysis of microwave-digested soil yielded a DL of 4.73 Bq/kg (equivalent to 0.93 ppq). The Sr from environmental contaminated soil samples ranged from 63 Bq/kg to 89 Bq/kg, with no statistical difference between the proposed and general methods at 98% confidence level.