1. Strontium Extraction from Urine Samples
Westinghouse Savannah River Company
Gerald D. Levi, Jr. 1

2. Strontium Extraction from Urine Samples
Introduction
Strontium Analysis Process Flow
Current Strontium Extraction Method
Method Enhancements
Summary 2

3. Strontium Analysis Process Flow
Sample Receiving
Acidification
Co-Precipitation
Clean-Up
Ion Exchange 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. Current Strontium Extraction Method
Acidify Samples with 10 mL of 8 M HNO3
Condition Sr resin with 5 mL of 8 M HNO3
Transfer acidified samples onto Sr resin
Rinse Sr resin with 5 mL of 8 M HNO3
Rinse Sr resin with 5 mL of 3 M HNO M Oxalic Acid
Rinse Sr resin with 10 mL of 0.05 M HNO3
Heat lamp dry samples onto planchets
Analyze sample planchets by gas proportional counting 9

10. 10

11. Method Enhancements Removed a rinse step with 5 mL of 8 M HNO3
- Save approximately minutes a batch
Matrix matched the calibration standards and samples
- More representative detector efficiency
Replaced the gravity flow method with a vacuum method
- Reduced the batch extraction time by a factor of two
Switched from Columns to Cartridges
- Improved spike recovery from 70% + 10 % to 85% +10% 11

12. 12

13. 13

14. Summary Routine recoveries of 75% - 95%
Minimized Inconclusive Analyses (IA) and Reruns due to higher recoveries
Reduced batch extraction time from 4 hrs. to 2 hrs
Cost savings due to freeing up technician time to complete other lab tasks 14

15. Acknowledgement Sherrod Maxwell David Fauth Christy Posey Ginny Lackey15