Kumar B, Han L-F, Wassenaar L I, Klaus P M, Kainz G G, Hillegonds D, Brummer D, Ahmad M, Belachew D L, Araguás L, Aggarwal P
Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria.
Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria.
Appl Radiat Isot. 2016 Dec;118:80-86. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.07.018. Epub 2016 Jul 20.
Tritium (H) in natural waters is a powerful tracer of hydrological processes, but its low concentrations require electrolytic enrichment before precise measurements can be made with a liquid scintillation counter. Here, we describe a newly developed, compact tritium enrichment unit which can be used to enrich up to 2L of a water sample. This allows a high enrichment factor (>100) for measuring low H contents of <0.05TU. The TEU uses a small cell (250mL) with automated re-filling and a CO bubbling technique to neutralize the high alkalinity of enriched samples. The enriched residual sample is retrieved from the cell under vacuum by cryogenic distillation at -20°C and the tritium enrichment factor for each sample is accurately determined by measuring pre- and post- enrichment H concentrations with laser spectrometry.
天然水中的氚（H）是水文过程的一种强大示踪剂，但其浓度较低，需要进行电解富集才能用液体闪烁计数器进行精确测量。在此，我们描述了一种新开发的紧凑型氚富集装置，该装置可用于富集多达2升的水样。这使得在测量<0.05 TU的低H含量时具有较高的富集因子（>100）。该TEU使用一个小电解槽（250mL），具备自动再填充功能，并采用CO鼓泡技术来中和富集样品的高碱度。在-20°C下通过低温蒸馏在真空条件下从电解槽中回收富集后的残余样品，并且通过用激光光谱法测量富集前后的H浓度来准确确定每个样品的氚富集因子。
