Uranium determination in water samples with elevated salinity from Southern Poland by micro coprecipitation using alpha spectrometry

Due to the importance of water in human life, its quality must be strictly controlled; so simple and reliable analytical methods must be available. For this purpose a rapid procedure for the determination of uranium isotopes in natural water samples with elevated salinity was adopted. It was tested in 16 water samples from Upper and Lower Silesia Regions in Poland. Water samples had salinity in a range of 290-26.925 mg l(-1). In water samples the concentrations of U-234 and U-238 ranged from 2.07 to 52.08 mBq l(-1) and from 2.18 to 43.38 mBq l(-1) respectively, while U-235 level was below MDA (0.7 mBq l(-1)). The isotopic ratio of U-234/U-238 varies in the range from 0.949 to 3.344 in all investigated waters which means that there is usually no radioactive equilibrium between the parent nuclide U-238 and its daughter product U-234. These results do not show a correlation between total dissolved solids (TDS) values and concentration of dissolved uranium isotopes. Committed effective dose for adults due to uranium intake as a result of drinking water usage was in range of 0.15-3.29 mu Sv y(-1) with an average value of 1.09 mu Sv y(-1) far below the 100 mu Sv y(-1) WHO recommendation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.