Radioanalytical techniques for the determination of 238U, 226Ra and 210Pb in the environment

Different radiometric techniques for the determination of U-238, Ra-226 and Pb-210 are presented and compared in terms of detection limits with mass spectrometric techniques. It can be concluded that when samples with low activity concentrations have to be measured, the method of choice in the case of U-238 should be either RNAA/INAA or alpha particle spectrometry. In the case of Ra-226 and Pb-210 the best performance can be expected by the alpha spectrometry, whereas drawback of waiting for establishing secular radioactive equilibrium of Pb-210 with Po-210 makes techniques like beta counting and LSC more attractive for the determination of Pb-210. In addition, a case study on monitoring the former uranium mine. Zirovski vrh is presented along with the used methodology and the summarised measurement results.