Development and Testing of Environmentally-Safe Extractive Scintillator Solutions for Alpha Spectrometry

41182 ORDELA, Inc. While extractive scintillator solutions used with alpha-liquid-scintillation spectrometry offers one of the moswt rapid and accurate techniques for the separation and measurement of alpha-emitters, extensive commercialization has been hampered by the generation of mixed waste. This project will develop environmentally-safe extractive scintillator solutions which will have a high flash point, low vapor pressure, low toxicity, high scintillation yield, high extraction efficiencies for alpha-emitting nuclides, and good phase separation characteristics, and will not undergo significant decomposition during storage. Phase I will: (1) identify several promising non-hazardous solvents, (2) use these solvents to develop environmentally-safe extractive scintillator solutions, and (3) test these solutions to determine their usefulness as extractive scintillator solutions based on the above characteristics. The results from Phase I will serve as a guide for developing and testing a new product line of environmentally-safe extractive scintillator solutions during Phase II. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Successful completion of this project will lead to the wide commercialization of environmentally-safe extractive scintillator solutions for the simplified, rapid, and accurate determination of alpha-emitting nuclides by alpha-liquid-scintillation spectrometry. Advantages over traditional alpha-radiation detection and measurement include faster sample preparation time, decreased counting times, and waste minimization.