FUKUSHIMA--A joint team of Japanese researchers has developed a way of analyzing radioactive strontium-90 within minutes rather than weeks, potentially enabling emergency workers to promptly check areas for contamination.
FUKUSHIMA--A joint team of Japanese researchers has developed a way of analyzing radioactive strontium-90 within minutes rather than weeks, potentially enabling emergency workers to promptly check areas for contamination. Strontium-90 readily dissolves in water and tends to accumulate in human bones when absorbed. It can cause bone cancer and leukemia. Since the nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture in 2011, high levels of strontium have leaked into the surrounding environment. Although the conventional technique has superior analytical sensitivity, with only a minimal amount of components needed to be reliably detected in sample, the process took from two to four weeks. In addition, it required several stages of pretreatment to extract strontium alone. However, the joint team led by Yoshitaka Takagai, an associate professor of studies in analytical chemistry at Fukushima University's Faculty of Symbiotic Systems Science, succeeded in reducing the analysis time to 20 minutes. The team includes a researcher from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the operator of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. Takagai and other members started the study soon after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan and triggered the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The team realized a short-time analysis of strontium-90 by adding a new device, which can extract strontium-90 only, to the existing commercial analytical equipment. The new method involves absorbing strontium into a resin and then bringing about a chemical reaction of other materials with oxygen. Moreover, almost entirely automated functions of the new method will reduce the radiation exposure of operators working on the analysis, the team said. In addition, as it requires no solution containing radioactive substances for the analysis, researchers can work outside radiation controlled areas. In this method, the lower detection limit is about 5 becquerels per kilogram of soil and about 3 becquerels per liter of solution. It is expected to be used as a screening method in emergencies. “It is possible to choose the new or conventional method depending on the intended use,” Takagai said. “I hope our new method will be used widely.” The team’s research paper is to be published in an online journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.