The determination of strontium-90 in environmental materials by ion exchange and preferential chelation techniques

Abstract

An investigation has been made into the conditions necessary for the preferential chelation of calcium and magnesium over strontium by EDTA and citric acid, and subsequent isolation of the strontium by ion exchange. This has been used as a basis for a convenient method for the determination of strontium-90 in a wide range of environmental materials, down to levels as low as 0·001 picocuries per g of material in its natural state.